


Christmas Truce

by Tsubaki94



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Angst, Bullying, Christmas Spirit, Christmas Truce 2020, Ghosts, Gremlin - Freeform, Holiday truce 2020, Hurt/Comfort, Scrooge - Freeform, Walk in their shoes, grinch, https://aedelia.tumblr.com/
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:15:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 21,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28283028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tsubaki94/pseuds/Tsubaki94
Summary: The worst time of the year was back, with everyone merry and cheerful—all but Danny, who likes to be left out of it. But when a sabotaging ghost comes to town threatening to ruin Christmas, Phantom tries to stop it. In the process, Danny gets to know his bullies better.This is part of Christmas truce 2020 over at Tumbler, And is gifted to https://aedelia.tumblr.com/ Happy holidays.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 29





	1. Jingle Bells

**Author's Note:**

  * For [https://aedelia.tumblr.com/](/gifts?recipient=https%3A%2F%2Faedelia.tumblr.com%2F), [neokid93](https://archiveofourown.org/users/neokid93/gifts).



Gothic bells started ringing, and an ominous sound rang through the classroom. Lifting his head to glare at whoever it was playing the music, Danny rolled his eyes at the brightest and most cheerful Christmas lover in the school. Wearing a white and blue sweater with a dreidel on the front and the text, _This is how I roll_ , under it, Sam beamed out at the class.

"Happy Hanukah!" Exclaimed the goth girl, starting her presentation. Mr. Lancer had been the devil himself, proclaiming a week earlier that they were going to each make a ten-minute presentation on their Christmas traditions. Resulting in a whole day of listening to everyone bragging about how good their customs were.

Covering his ears and putting his head back down on his backpack, Danny tried to block out everything. Danny appreciated the diverse ways of celebrating the holidays. Tucker had spoken at length about his mom's cooking. Paulina had described their decorations, and Dash had given them all an invitation to his Christmas party. He simply couldn't find any way for his holiday to provide him with the same kind of joy and warmth that everyone else seemed to associate with it.

Sam should have been on his side about all the ridiculous decorations that blinded him while flying. The blow-up figures that exploded when hit by an ecto-bast, the strings of light that he got tangled up in during fights. If December had been torture before, it was nothing compared to this year. He had bruises and aches from more decorations than ghosts.

There was a thought, maybe he should pretend a ghost was attacking Amity Park and get out of the hell hole he was in. Sure, Mr. Lancer would think he was just ditching class, pretending to go to the bathroom, but having him do that for a year, the teacher should be used to it by now.

"And that is the Holidays tradition my family honors. Merry Christmas to the rest of you." Said Sam, finishing her presentation and turning off the music she'd been playing through it all.

The class applauded her, even Danny put his hands together out of friendship. The happy Christmas elf sat down beside him, brushing the glitter from her hands in his direction.

"Thank you, miss Manson, for that lovely, multicultural presentation. Next up, Fenton." Announced Mr. Lancer from the corner where he was watching them.

"Break a leg." Smiled Sam.

"Make it two for good measure." Added Tucker.

"How about I vanish my legs." Grumbled Danny, getting up from his seat.

Going to the front of the classroom, Danny turned to face everyone. He could see the geeks in front with their ugly Christmas sweaters, the artists had all done something fun with their hair, the goths had something red or green on them, and the A-listers in the back all sported new bling. Dash had a Christmas t-shirt proclaiming him naughty and a Santa hat on his head. Beside him, Kwan had a sweater on with some Asian character over a Christmas tree. Star was showing Paulina her pink snowflake hairpin, and Paulina was telling her about the green elf jumper she was wearing, which did nothing to cover her midriff.

"Anytime you are ready, Mr. Fenton." Prompted Mr. Lancer when Danny didn't say anything.

Taking in a deep breath, Danny proclaimed, "I hate Christmas. Don't wish me a happy this or a merry that, I will tell you to get lost and never bother me again. The End."

There were no applauds, no cheering, why should there be. The stunned silence was broken by no one other than Dash. "SCROOGE! HE'S A SCROOGE!"

"Send in the ghosts of Christmas! Send in the ghost of Christmas Past, Present, and Future!" Continued Star and the whole class joined in making references to a _Christmas Carol_.

Crossing his arms, Danny glared down at the booing name-callers.

"I'd like to see the ghosts get into my house!" Snapped Danny. "They'd get zapped trying to pretend to be a doorknob. The ghost shield would stop them from entering or leaving so they'd be stuck in a house with my crazy ghost hunting parents and their arsenal of ghost capturing tools." Said Danny with confidence.

"That will be enough." Said Mr. Lancer, getting up from his comfortable seat. "I can hear that you are all familiar with Charles Dickens's story and that we don't have to read it again." There was a quiet murmur at this. Mr. Lancer had been giving them increasingly harder book reports to write, and none of them wanted to redo the one about Dickens's book.

"How about we continue our presentations with Kwan. Please come up and tell us about your traditions." In a lower tone, Mr. Lancer turned to Danny. "I’ll see you after class.”

Rolling his eyes at the teacher Danny trudged back to his seat and continued what he’d been trying to do even before Halloween. Ignore Christmas.

In previous years he’d been trying to get away from it all or take out his frustration with the holiday on ugly ornaments and crappy toys, resulting in him being trapped in a Christmas Story by the Ghost Writer. This year he had a new plan. To ignore it all and pretend that there wasn’t something special in the air. No smells of gingerbread, pine trees, or cinnamon wafting through the air. No twinkling lights in every window. Or candles burning for no reason. He had pretended not to see or hear all the do-gooders, his sister among them. And went through the days with his hood drawn up and head held low.

When the school bell rang, the classroom was emptied in a mere minute. Sam and Tucker told him they’d be waiting by their lockers. And so Danny was left alone with Mr. Lancer.

The teacher collected the papers on his desk, and for a second, Danny thought he’d forgotten about him. Then the man sat back down with a heavy sigh and looked at him.

“I’m sorry about those Scrooge comments. They were un-kind.” He said.

Danny shrugged. Being called a Scrooge was nothing new for him. He’d carried that seasonal nickname for years now.

“Everyone has a right to spend the winter break in whatever manner they want. If it is Celebrating a religious holiday or simply taking the time to do our hobbies. For example, I will attempt to make my model train track go over a mountain of classic books this weekend. Do you have any hobbies you’d like to indulge in?” Asked Mr. Lancer having a kind look on his face.

“I don’t know, might try train surfing or fork bending.” Was Danny’s response.

Mr. Lancer saw that he wasn’t taking the question seriously, his brows furrowed, and he steepled his hands. “Better be careful train surfing. More people die attempting it than forks gets bent in a year.”

“Must be why my collection of bent forks are so big. Was there something you wanted to tell me, or can I leave?” Danny inched towards the door.

“I want you to redo the assignment. You don’t have to give the ten-minute presentation to the whole class, only me if you want. You have until the start of next term to prepare.” Said Mr. Lancer.

“Thanks.” Muttered Danny, not against the idea of doing the presentation for only the teacher. It would save him from failing more of Mr. Lancer’s assignments.

Leaving the classroom, Danny pulled up his hood and elbowed his way through the crowd in the corridor to reach his locker. Sam and Tucker waited for him there.

“What did Lancer want?” asked Tucker, trying to fix mistletoe to his beretta.

“He gave me a break to prepare my presentation for him.” Said Danny, not bothering to open his locker. In case someone decided to stuff him in there, he phased his hand through the door and pulled out his jacket.

“That was nice of him. I think I’ll put a flower on his desk tomorrow as a Christmas gift from the whole class. You want to come to the garden center with me?” Smiled Sam, humming on a Christmas song.

“N- Aww-“ Said Danny, ducking his head.

“Merry Christmas Fen-turd!” Shouted Dash, having whacked Danny across the back of his head as he passed.

“Go to hell, BAX-STARD!” Responded Danny rubbing the spot Dash had hit.

In the blink of an eye, Dash had turned around and driven a fist into Danny’s stomach. Stumbling back, Danny gasped for air.

“What is wrong with you, Baxter!” Exclaimed Sam stepping in front of Danny.

“Don’t you ever call me that, Fentonousky Scrooge!” Spat Dash.

Danny tried to cut back with a response that if Dash could mangle his name, he could do it in return. He ended up gasping for more air. The sudden attack had taken him off guard.

“You started it. If you can’t take someone giving back what you dish out, then maybe you shouldn’t pick on them.” Huffed Sam, her hands on her hips, she glared up at Dash.

“You are Pathetic Fen-tonia! Letting your girlfriend do all the talking for you.” Leered Dash turning around and leaving them alone again.

Sam spun around. “You okay?” she asked.

“Fine.” Wheezed Danny. “Let’s just go.”

They left the school, and before Danny could come up with a reason not to go along with Sam to the garden center, he was there, standing among red flowers and artfully displayed pots. Like Danny, Tucker wasn’t interested in plants and would make a game out of what teacher the different pots resembled.

A shiver went up Danny’s spine, and his breath caused a batch of tulips to frost over. Tucker gave him a curious look.

“You want a hand with the ghost?” asked Tucker, trying to catch Sam’s attention.

“I’ll go and see what it is, fist. Call you if I need any assistance.” Said Danny, already running for a concealed corner behind a batch of pine trees.

It hit him when he was behind the trees that they might be the ghosts he had to fight. But when they didn’t come alive and try and kill him, he dismissed that idea.

“Going ghost.” He said to himself and transformed into his alter ego.

Flying out from among the branches, Danny scanned his immediate area for any sign of the ghost. Nothing was out of the ordinary at the garden center, nor were there any screams for help. Raising his gaze and widening his search, Danny spotted a blinking red light not far from him. It wouldn’t have been anything out of the ordinary if not for the fact that he could follow a trail of blinking red lights and broken Christmas decorations that was causing a traffic problem.

Spotting the furry little ghost jumping from building to building, phasing his hand through walls, and tearing down the decoration, Danny didn’t feel as upset about it as the people on the sidewalks did. Non the less, he did go after the tiny ghost, which turned out to be harder than he thought.

Danny lost sight of the creature multiple times. He would stumble over the traces of its destruction, and following the trails, soon found the creature tearing out lightbulbs in traffic lights, crushing Christmas balls, and writing on the walls and windows of the town hall. The vandalism wasn’t all that bad, easily fixed and effortlessly replaced.

At a quarter past eleven, Danny took a break and asked Sam for help identifying the creature. Experience had taught him that knowing the enemy always was an advantage. This was why it was so much easier to fight his enemies the second time. He’d learned their tricks and triggers.

Danny hadn’t expected Sam to find an answer as quickly as she did. His phone rang sometime after midnight. Taking a break from the chase, Danny landed on a roof, answering the call.

“I think you are dealing with a Gremlin.” Said Sam at once, no need for formalities when one knew what the conversation was about.

“Okay, a name always makes things less scary. Not as if it’s the Balrog of Morgoth.” Yawned Danny. His head was growing heavy.

“And you are no Gandalf. Would you like the rest of the information I got for you, or should I go to bed?” Snapped Sam, sounding tired herself.

“Infodump me, please.”

There was a pause on Sam’s side as she typed on her computer. “Alright, Gremlin. A ghost creature known for sabotaging aircraft. It is especially active the days leading up to Christmas. Leaving a trail of destruction and accidents behind it.“

“The legend surrounding the creature is a bit hazy, but from what I gathered, it was once one of Santa’s elves. The gremlin loved the big red man so much that when aircraft became more common in the night sky, he left the North Pool. Sabotaging and forcing plane out of the air, the gremlin kept the path safe for St Nick.”

“However, Santa Claus was not happy with what his elf had done. The gremlin hadn’t given a thought to who he hurt in the process and thus harmed and maimed the very people he was trying to bring cheer to. This resulted in the elf’s banishment from Santa’s workshop.”

“Every year after his banishment, when the spirit of Christmas is high, the gremlin grows agitated. To release the pent up anger from the wrong-doing, the gremlin will do his best to bring down the Holiday cheer. Only to disappear on Christmas Day.” Said Sam.

“Must have something to do with the Christmas truce.” Yawned Danny, narrowing his eyes on a moving string of colored lights.

“Must be. Otherwise, he sounds a lot like someone else I know.” Hummed Sam.

“Who? Tucker?”

Sam sighed. “Do you want any more help? I can be out there with you in five.”

“No, I got this handled.” Said Danny, appreciating the sudden deflation of a blow-up Santa.

“See you tomorrow then.” Said Sam, and they both hung up.

Running after the gremlin took all night. When dawn started coloring the sky a light blue, the destruction ceased.

Hungry and in need of sleep, Danny returned home. Falling down on his bed, Danny turned back into his human form. “Sleep first, Food later.” He told his growling. All his worries and problem seemed small as he breathed in a heavy sigh and welcomed the blissful nothingness that was sleep.

And then the alarm rang.


	2. You're a mean one, Mr Grinch

“Time to get up, little brother.”

The two most beautiful smells reached Danny’s nose, fried bacon, and coffee. Danny cracked open an eye seeing the breakfast in front of him.

“Last day of school.” Smiled Jazz holding the tray.

Danny lunged for the coffee. Jazz jumped back, resulting in Danny falling to a heap on the floor.

“Give me a sentence first, so I know you are awake.” Grinned Jazz.

“Food-“ Grumbled Danny. His brain wasn’t working yet.

“What was that? Your sister is the most wonderful person in the world.” She teased.

“Most annoying.” Retorted Danny sitting up and rubbing the sand out of his eyes.

“That’s two words. Should we try for three?” Smiled Jazz holding out the mug for him.

“I hate you.” Muttered Danny taking the mug.

“I love you too.” Said Jazz sitting down on the floor in front of him. She had brought a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon for herself as well.

“What’s wrong with the kitchen?” asked Danny, sipping his coffee.

“Mom is making cookies, and Dad is creating new decorations.”

“Never mix science with food.” Said the two at the same time. Years of having their parents' inventions and experiments running dinner, Danny and Jazz had both decided the year before that whenever their parents were doing the two simultaneously, they would eat their meals somewhere else.

“How much sleep did you get last night?” asked Jazz, drinking orange juice.

“Not even an hour. Good thing I can sleep through most of the school today.” Said Danny munching on his eggs and bacon. Jazz made a face but didn’t say anything. She had her own views about sleeping in class, which was similar to the teachers. Only she didn’t say anything about it if he hadn’t slept during the night.

“I’ll give you a ride to school.” She offered.

“And kill my reputation.” Grimaced Danny. “Yes, please.” He had no trouble getting a ride from Jazz, given that she didn’t do anything embarrassing, like pretend she was his sister.

Eating their breakfast in quiet, Jazz cleared off the dishes as Danny got ready for school. Getting into Jazz's car wasn’t that easy. She had books stacked in all the seats and wrapped gifts that were only safe in said car.

At the school, Danny regrated his decision to get up that morning. It was like everyone had caught the same bug called Christmas Spirit. Sam and Tucker found him before he could turn tail and leave.

Sitting at the back of their Homeroom Danny, Sam and Tucker played games, or Sam and Tucker played while he slept, ignored the teacher like the rest of the students. However, Mr. Lancer didn’t seem to mind smiling at the plant. Sam had gotten him on behalf of the class.

The day was mostly the teachers wishing the students a happy holiday and giving out awards for best students and athletes. There would be more of the same at the end of the spring term.

When the school choir entered, Danny borrowed Sam’s headphones and put on his own music. Anything that wasn’t carols was good. An added bonus was that when he took the headphones off, he’d been playing the music so loud that he couldn’t really hear what was being said by anyone but the people closest to him.

They all headed over to the cafeteria at lunchtime, where the drama club was putting on a play. Danny was doodling in his notebook when he saw something moving out of the corner out of his eye. Glancing in the direction of the movement, Danny saw the door to the cafeteria closing. Thinking nothing of it, Danny turned back to his drawing.

The choir made an encore singing Carol the Bells before the headmistress dismissed them. Danny and his friends hung back, leaving once the rush was over.

“So what do we want to do today. I’m feeling for a nasty burger.” Said Tucker tearing his eyes from his phone, having been glued to it like Danny had been to his doodles.

“Yes, burger.” Agreed Danny.

Reaching their lockers, most of the students had left the corridor. Sam and Tucker got their jackets from their lockers and made sure that they didn’t leave anything behind that they might need during the break. Like a Fenton-thermos, a Spector-deflector, or the all-purpose-Fenton-utility tool.

“To food then.” Grinned Danny, turning towards the man doors.

A whistle rang somewhere. Danny wouldn’t have thought anything of it hadn’t he heard Sam and Tucker yelp behind him.

Turning, Danny saw Kwan and two other football players dragging them back.

“Hey, what are you-“

SPLAT!

Slime, thick, and lime green poured down on Danny from above. For a split second, he was about to blast whatever it was attacking him. Then he remembered where he was and stopped. Glaring up, Danny saw Star and Paulina hiding over the soundboards above. They dropped their paint buckets, and Paulina pulled out her phone.

“Smile Grinch.” She leered.

“I am n-“

PUFF!

This time something soft hit Danny and exploded into tiny green bits of fleece. Spluttering and whipping the mixture of his face, Danny forced himself to stay calm and not let his eyes glow green.

“Merry Christmas Grinch-ton!” Shouted Dash.

Opening his eyes, Danny glared at the bully's back as he ran away from the scene of his crime.

“Real mature Dash!” Shouted Sam, running up to Danny. The football players had let her and Tucker go.

“You okay, mate?” asked Tucker.

Spitting the fuzzy mixture out of his mouth, Danny glared in all the directions of the A-listers but couldn’t spot any of them. His vision glowed, the ice seemed to grow in his chest, and Danny turned to his locker, opening it.

“Danny?” asked Sam tentatively.

“I’m fine.” Growled Danny sidestepping all the things that fell out of his locker.

“Don’t worry, mate. I’ll get back at those jerks.” Said Tucker holding up his phone. “I wonder how Dash and Kwan would react to having their internet history posted all over social media.”

Sam rolled her eyes at him and put a hand on Danny’s shoulder, making him stop his rumbling through his locker. “I’m telling Mr. Lancer. Those jerks can’t get away with this. It’s completely against the holiday spirit.”

Barring his teeth in a snarl. Danny grabbed his gym bag from the back of his locker and slammed the door shut.

This caused Sam and Tucker to jump back.

“I’ll meet you at the Nasty Burger.” He said, forcing his voice to stay calm while all he wanted to do was shout at them to leave him be and not bother the teachers.

“Okay.” Said Tucker, getting out of Danny’s way as he stomped down the corridor, leaving green footprints behind himself.

The schools changing rooms were empty and, for once, clean. Dumping his bag outside of the showers, Danny entered the open space. Turning on a shower, he stuck his head under it and watched paint and fleece run in rivers to the drain.

That piece of ice that had seemed to close around his heart cracked and Danny drew in a shaking breath.

He hadn’t done anything to provoke the A-listers into doing this to him. He’d kept out of their way, avoided them even. The only thing he had done had been the thing the day before when he called Dash Bax-stard. And hadn’t he taken the beating for it already. Wasn’t it enough to hit him and threaten him, calling him names and making fun of his crazy parents? Why did they have to do this to him?

As the ice in his chest melted, tears began rolling down his cheeks.

It wasn’t enough that he had to endure all the Holiday spirit. He had to be bullied on the last day of school as well. Why the jerks couldn’t mind their own business instead of picking on him, he couldn’t understand. It wasn’t some spur of the moment prank either. This had been planned, deliberate, and targeted at him personally.

Was this because he didn’t like Christmas and said so out loud the other day? Was that why they painted him green and fuzzy and called him Grinch?

What did they know about his Christmas anyway? He would never have a merry or happy Christmas. There would never be any warm and cheery traditions for him to keep going. If they couldn’t understand his feelings for the wretched holiday, then he would teach them.

Whipping the tears off his face, Danny removed his paint-stained clothes and washed the green off his skin.

As the water rinsed off the paint, a plan slowly formed in Danny’s mind. He was going to get back at his bullies the same way they had attacked him. Never again would they be allowed to humiliate him. Tucker's offer seemed very tempting.

He couldn’t make it obvious that they were behind the humiliations, however, or there would be consequences. No, he could have his revenge served cold, like the ice that was once more growing around his heart. Yes, something slow and untraceable. Something that wouldn’t leave the four bullies with a reputation worth having.

Getting all of the paint and fuzz of himself and out of his hair, Danny dried off. He dressed in the sweatpants and t-shirt he hadn’t used for the gym. A ghost had called him away the last time. Stuffing his ruined clothes in the bag, he turned into Phantom and left the school.

Dropping the gym bag and grabbing a good change of clothes at home, Danny continued on to the Nasty Burger. Arriving at the same time as his friends.

“Let’s eat, shall we.” Smiled Danny appearing behind Sam and Tucker.

The two jumped and scowled at him.

“Could you not do that? I nearly dropped my baby.” Complained Tucker holding his phone close to his chest.

“You go the paint off.” Smiled Sam, picking at his hair, which had decided to stand up in spikes because of the cold.

“Yup. What were you saying about internet history before Tucker?” Said Danny opening the door for his friends.

“I like the way you are thinking. Let's air some of their dirty laundries.” Grinned Tucker, his glasses steaming over at the sudden temperature change.

“We can do that too.” Hummed Danny.

“The boy’s lacy ones or the girls lack off?” Asked Sam joining the line already knowing what she wanted to eat.

“Both.” Said Danny watching Tucker’s eyes widen at his phone screen before he quickly pocketed it.

“I’m going for a lump of triple meat and bacon. What’ll you have?” he asked.

“What did you just see?” asked Danny, knowing that there was something up with Tucker because of how fast he changed the subject.

“Dirty laundry. You going for the usual? I see Valeri by the counter.” And with that, Tucker cut ahead of the line to get to the former A-lister.

“That isn’t at all suspicious.” Hummed Sam, taking her own phone out of her pocket. Danny leaned in closer to watch the screen as well.

“Is there something wrong with your own?” she asked, finger hovering over the social media button.

“It’s funeral was last weekend. Mom said she’d get me a new for Christmas.” Danny shivered saying the word. It even tasted wrong in his mouth.

“I see, you can borrow my spare phone until the-“ She’d opened Instagram and was immediately shown the trending picture.

Danny stared blankly at the image of himself, face green and fluffy, eyes glowing and fangs bared in a snarl. The text around it said, _Beware of the Grinch_. Comments ranged from:

“ _He’s a mean one. Mr. Grinch_.” Fluffball

“The sun will cease to shine. A loyal friend is still loyal even when doing the right thing.“ TimeLord

“Perfect hit the nail on the head.” StarQueen

“There’s a storm brewing.” TimeLord

“That’s hilarious.” BasketKing99

“Scrooge became a Grinch, poetic justice anyone.” SayonaraSanches

“Don’t let the outside fool what’s inside.” WesWest

“Tranquility will be broken. A cold star will warm the night.” TimeLord

“Awesome prank.” KBall

“#Amity Park #Looser #Grinch” Sportsmaster101.

Other students from Casper High at the Nasty Burger all looked up to stare at him. A few compared the image even.

Danny rolled his eyes at them and turned his gaze to the menu again. His insides were boiling, however. A few pranks to get back at the A-listers was no longer going to cut it. If they wanted him to be The Grinch, then that was what they were going to get.


	3. Here comes Santa Clause

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is mainly a chase and fight chapter

That evening the Gremlin was causing chaos once more. Danny wasn’t the only one on its trail this time. Tucker and Sam had joined him, thinking that they would send it back to the ghost-zone.

However, the longer into the night the chase continued, the worse the weather got. By midnight Jazz joined them, using the Fenton-RV, under the pretense to go out to get Danny and his friends home.

“A-aren’t you c-cold.” Stuttered Tucker over the radio, shivering like a leaf in the warmth of the vehicle.

“ _The cold never bothered me, anyway_.” Hummed Danny, darting at the gremlin and catching a light fixture instead.

Everyone in the car groaned. “Please, no Elsa impersonation this year. I can’t stand a reprise of Let it go over the radio.” Pleaded Sam.

“It was a snow fort, and it was fun.” Protested Danny remembering the epic snow fight that Phantom had started the year before and the resulting snow fort he’d made for his team.

A flash of light to Danny’s left, followed by a sudden dark spot, told Danny where the gremlin had gone off to. Flying after it, he had to dodge a string of colorful light that had gotten loose from the balcony it had been connected to.

“It w-was pretty awesome, though.” Said Tucker. “Hey, is that little monster heading east now?”

“Spoke like a true best friend. How do you know the gremlin is going east?” Said Danny, only realizing what direction he was going in after having passed a landmark close enough to nearly crash into it.

“He knows because it just broke down a traffic light at the intersection of Elm Street and Fleet Street going east.” Sighed Jazz. “We’ll have to drive around this.”

Danny passed the RV. “Stay safe, alright. I think the little bugger is tiering.”

“Can it get tired? That monster has been destroying things for hours.” Groaned Sam.

“Feel free to go home whenever you want. I’m going to catch that little monster.” He put on more speed and caught up to the gremlin climbing up a Christmas tree. Stringed lights falling loose and decorations crashing to the ground.

The little creature threw the star at Danny, who blasted it to smithereens. “That was satisfying. Care to throw some more, maybe yourself!” Grinned Danny.

Stopping at the top of the tree, Danny could see the gremlin's eyes grow large. Flinging a blast of ghost energy, Danny hit the tiny monster square on the back.

It let out a screech, somewhere between a cat’s howl and the angry noise of a mad chihuahua. Danny managed to get his hands up in time to protect his face as the Gremlin jumped at him. Its claws tearing through the fabric of the jumpsuit as it crawled over him and pushed off from his back.

Biting his lower lip, Danny kept himself from screaming. Eyes burning, Danny turned to fly after the monster. The burning at his back cooled down and slowly grew numb. He was going to pay for the temporary freezing later.

Catching up to the gremlin at the power station Danny halted momentarily. Multiple power lines connected the outside, high towers, and a large building—all of it bathing in bright light, with a _Keep Out_ sign on the front gate. The little monster was sitting on one of the pylons, chewing on a cable.

It looked like the gremlin was glowing more radiant than the fluorescence of any other ghost.

Getting an idea, Danny flew in invisible. Reaching the pylon, he lay his hands on the metal. If his physics class had taught him anything, it was that cold metal would cling to any living creature, and he would use that to conduct his own frost powers.

Drawing in a calming breath, Danny stilled himself. Finding the ice readily available, he thrust it into the metal. The frost flowers bloomed up in an intricate path, creating spikes closer to the base.

The gremlin suspected nothing, and when he saw the ice, it was already too late. It let out another of its screams and thrashed at the ice, holding its legs frozen in place.

“Chill out. It’s only a bit of frost.” Grinned Danny flying up to the little monster. “Now, how about we make a deal, and I can let you go.”

The creature let out a string of something like incomprehensible words, especially with the snarling and spitting. The beast's glow turned red, and its lower body suddenly grew, creating rabbit-like legs.

In a flash, the ice had shattered, and a sharp pain cut across Danny’s side. He didn’t scream this time but only stared at the tear in his jumpsuit. His body was already too numb to feel the pain of the new wound.

Feeling like he was turning in slow motion, Danny looked behind. The gremlin had shot past him with such speed that he’d been unable to register the movement until long after it had passed. What this the reason he kept losing track of it? The thing could change form and increase its speed.

There were tracks left behind after the gremlins escape, however, Not footprints. But a burst cooling pipe and a child-sized hole in the wall. Debating whether he should stop the leak before going after the ghost, Danny used his frost powers to cover the hole without blocking the pipe. The last thing he needed was an explosion at the power station and Amity Park being without electricity.

Then again, no electricity meant no lights, now Christmas commercials, or songs over the radio. No lights to guide people around the streets, forcing them to stay at home instead of caroling. It also meant no internet and no tv. Yeah, defiantly not a good idea.

Entering the building through a wall, Danny wrinkled his nose at the smell. Amity Park was running its power off coal. Inside the boiler had the room practically toasty, and Danny hated it. It wasn’t that he liked the cold any better. It just made him feel feverish after having been in a snowstorm up until that point.

Picking up the trail of broken panels, thrown away toolboxes, and broken hard-hats, Danny found the gremlin. It had phased cables out of the wall and was chewing on them.

Approaching cautiously, Danny stopped himself. He was going about things all wrong. First, he was a ghost and didn’t have to sneak up on a creature on the ground level. Second, He was a ghost and could phase through solid objects. And thirdly, why wasn’t he invisible?

Sometimes Danny agreed with everyone calling him stupid. He had all this power at his disposal and still thought like a human. Maybe that was why he would slam into so many things instead of phasing through them.

Disappearing from the visible spectrum, Danny turned intangible for good masseur. Phasing through the solid concrete floor, Danny guessed at the distance. Get too far away, and he would jump out on the other side of the wall. Too far away, and there wouldn’t be any use to him sneaking.

Judging his distance in comparison to where he’d been and where he wanted to end up, Danny took a breath. Well, something like a breath anyway. He didn’t have to breathe like a ghost, it was just instinct, and there was no air around him.

Jumping through the floor, Danny had a split second to see that he hadn’t been as close as he’d wanted. Flinging his arms out, he caught them around the gremlin.

It made that screaming noise again, thrashing to get free. Danny couldn’t get a good grip on the smooth fur. The claws dug into his arms, and Danny thought the creature was something more like a liquid.

Once more, it glowed red, and this time Danny didn’t see the transformation as much as feel it.

He was flung across the long room. Bouncing off the metal floor, and skidded to a halt in a heap near the hole the gremlin had made.

Laying there for a minute, Danny wondered if trying to capture the ghost was worth the pain. He could always give up and let his parents take care of the beast. That sounded a lot more tempting at the moment than trying to get his hands on it by himself.

A buzz in his earbud told Danny that someone wanted to talk to him.

“I’m here.” He responded, pressing the Bluetooth and getting to his feet.

“So are we.” Responded Jazz.

“Be careful. The gremlin is fast.” Said Danny. “Where are you?”

“South entrance, Sam and Tucker are outside, setting up a barrier.” Said Jazz. “I see the ghost. Should I drive it towards you?”

Danny hummed, thinking. If they could corner the creature, they could win. “Push it north. I’ll cut it off by the generator.”

“Right.” A minute later, Danny heard the crack and snap of his sister's whip.

Placing his hands on the metal floor, Danny breathed slowly. He had to make the slow-moving ice appear in a flash. By focusing all his energy on the one action, Danny had a lot more control over the ice. Visualizing the outcome, he stared at the spot the gremlin would most likely appear at.

Jazz whip snapped again, and Danny saw the fleeing monster. It was moving fast, bouncing from one surface to another. The black eyes of the creatures flashed in Danny’s direction.

Something in the way that the gremlin moved set Danny’s teeth on edge. It wasn’t moving like a chased creature, more like someone leading a pressure.

Setting his jaw, Danny changed his plan.

Jazz turned a corner, the green flash of her whip, Indiana Jones style. The gremlin in the opposite direction. Straight for Danny. He saw it in the black eyes then. This wasn’t just another mindless ghost, out to wreck and destroy Amity Park. It was intelligent.

Raising the ice in the blink of an eye, Danny jumped through his barrier.

As he’d thought, the gremlin had stopped just outside of the flash-ice reach. However, it hadn’t been prepared for Danny to come diving after it and scrambled on the ground to run away.

Another crack of Jazz whip had the creature change direction.

Darting for it, Danny saw the form change again, this time taking on the full form of a rabbit with horns and glowing red eyes.

Bouncing off the wall, the gremlin lowered its head and flew like a cannonball straight for the reactor. Danny’s eyes darted to his sister, who was much closer to the machine than he.

Everything slowed down. Danny had time to see the metal around the reactor bend before cracking. He had time to appreciate the arch of electricity flashing across the surface. In the nick of time, Danny put himself between Jazz and the exploding reactor.

Power like he’d only felt once before coursed through Danny’s body. His muscles cramped, and his mind turned blank. The pain was all he could feel for a while and then even that melted away to nothingness.

Was this how it actually felt to die? Would he now see what happened after death? Could ghosts die twice? Was there a ghost equivalent of heaven and hell?

It thrilled him to think that he was finally going to find out. At the same time as a black hole opened up in his stomach. His sister, his friends, his parents, what were they all going to think? What would they do?

 _“So many questions Danny. Such an active imagination. How about you rest that curiosity for a little while.”_ The voice was coming from all around, and Danny knew exactly who it belonged to.

“Clockwork.” He stated, trying to spot the ghost among all the white. Things were less thrilling now and more annoying. “Is this your doing? Are you going to interfere with my life again? I had enough of it the last time around.”

“ _Last time was to teach you a lesson, this time, you put yourself in this situation without knowing all the facts.”_ A portal appeared in front of Danny like a clock and the master of time emerged.

“Care to be a bit clearer. What facts? About the Gremlin?” Asked Danny. He started to see bits of color around the other ghost as if the world was slowly coming back in to focus.

“Did the Gremlin tell you to hunt him?” Asked Clockwork.

“It was destroying decorations all over town.” Huffed Danny crossing his arms. He was still in the PowerStation.

“I see and bring the spirit of Christmas. You felt obligated to stop him?” Said Clockwork taking on the form of a child.

“No. As the most capable ghost fighter in town, I felt the need to stop him.”

“Going so far as dragging your friends and sister through a blizzard in the meanwhile. Very heroic, Danny.” The child Clockwork looked smug.

“They didn’t have to come.” Grumbled Danny. He had told them to go back.

“Tell yourself that. I think you know the real answer already. How about we take a walk.” He turned into an old man and nodded for Danny to follow.

“Hold on, how about my-“Looking around, Danny’s eyes fell on his sister. She was kneeling over something on the floor. It took him a while to understand that she was bowed over a human body, and even longer for him to register that it was his body.

Something inside of him screamed, and he tried to reach out for Jazz. But his hand passed through her as if he really was a ghost. The hole at the pit of his stomach grew, and he turned to Clockwork for an explanation.

The old ghost stared indifferently at him.

“Am- Am I- Dead?” asked Danny, struggling to find the words.

“Am I?” retorted Clockwork.

“No, you are a ghost.”

“And there’s your answer.”


	4. Marry did you know

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dash chapter

Putting the last of the plates and utensils in the dishwasher, Dash turned it on the normal program, whipping his hands on his apron. It was late in the evening, a snowstorm was howling at the window, and he had just finished the last batch of cupcakes for the Christmas party. The house was filled with the smell of baked goods and that night's dinner—all made by his hands.

Admiring his work, Dash felt proud of himself. He had tried a new recipe and attempted to make his frosting two-colored without mixing. The first failed attempts were on a plate to be eaten by him and his dad.

“You cleaned off the kitchen after yourself?” Demanded said man, entering the room wearing his thickest winter coat and a Santa hat, no one in the family wore anything on their heads if it messed up their hair.

“Already done.” Beamed Dash. “You want a taste?” He offered the plate of failed bits.

“One for the road.” Mumbled the blocky man and picked a lopsided one. He bit into it. Dash stared at his face, picking up the slightest wrinkle at the corner of the eyes, seeing the tongue flick out to lick the frosting of the man's mustache.

“Well?” he asked.

“Cinnamon, right?”

“No.”

“Ginger?”

“Naa.”

“I give up. What spice did you use this time? I know for a fact it’s not lemon.”

“Cardamom.” Grinned Dash.

“Oh, Cardamom.” Said his dad, as if he hadn’t already figured it out. “I bet your friends will love them. Should put you up for one of those teen cock chows I should.”

Dash ducked his head. “Please don’t. My friends will think I’m a fagot if they knew I like to do this.”

Shaking his head and popping the rest of the pastry in his mouth, Mr. Baxter made a show of enjoying it. “Delicious. Made by a true pastry chef. That’s what I’ll tell your friends if they ask.”

Smiling at his dad, Dash started packing the cupcakes in a box to be stored outside, not taking up more space in the packed fridge. “You really have to go?” he asked.

“I can’t wait until morning, you know that.” Grunted his old man, a wrinkle appearing between his brows.

“I know, I was just hoping that she was feeling better.” Mumbled Dash concentrating on his task.

“She will be. Just need to get her that medicine before the last one wears off. Don’t go up bother her, okay.” It wasn’t a request, but all the same, there was no hard note in his voice.

“Okay.” Agreed Dash.

Watching his father leave the house, going to the pharmacy for a prescription he should have refiled the day before, Dash felt his heart grow heavy. He wished he could have gone with his dad, or better yet, instead of him. But someone had to stay at home.

Putting everything but one cupcake away, Dash put it on a plate. It was the best he’d made, and he wanted to show his mom. She wouldn’t eat it, he knew, but she appreciated seeing his creations all the same.

Making sure Pokie had a full bowl of dog food and wouldn’t bother them for a while, Dash climbed the stairs. Upstairs there were no Christmas decorations, his mom hadn’t had the energy to do more than the kitchen and living room, and even then, it was simple things. A red table cloth, pinecones, stockings on the mantle, a few strings of lights, and stars in the windows.

Walking on the outside of his feet, Dash gently moved over to his parents' bedroom and knocked gently. He could hear the rustle of sheets, and a moment later, his mom coughing.

“Come in.” Said the weak voice.

Dash pushed the door open. “Did I wake you?” he asked, making sure to keep his voice gentle.

“No, who can sleep with the wind howling like this.” Smiled his mom. She was sitting upright in bed, supported by pillows and wrapped in an electric blanket. The bedside table held all her medicine that made it possible for her to be at home. The oxygen tank beside her was on, and the thin plastic tube under her nose was a constant reminder of her sickness.

“I made cupcakes.” Said Dash, moving into the room and showing his mom the pastry in his hands.

“Is that what I’m smelling. I thought it was dinner.” His mom smiled and patted the side of the bed for him to sit down.

“It was. Dad had planned to order take out, but no one delivers in a blizzard.” Dash handed the plate over to his mom and smiled nervously at her. He still couldn’t get used to her thin form. Her cheeks were hollowed, and there were dark circles around her eyes. Her fingers that had once been thin were now bony. She tended to wear thick and warm clothes that hid her light frame.

The last year Dash had watched his mom wither slowly away. Her soft and fair skin growing hanging loosely from her once full form, yellowing and missing that natural flush. However, this was much better than it had been, and knowing the cause of it all made it all a bit easier to deal with.

“I’m so glad that you are taking after my part of the family. However, marries you, will have a Strong, Gentle, Caring, and an amazing cook that his mother can be proud of.” Smiled, his mom taking a picture of the cupcake with her phone.

“Mom.” Complaint Dash. “I’m fifteen.”

“I’m just saying. My gentle boy will make someone really happy someday.” She stroked his hair and pulled him close. “What did you make for dinner?”

“Well, there were many vegetables in the fridge, Zucchini, Eggplant, Paprika, Tomatoes, and Onions.” Said Dash closing his eyes as he felt at peace.

“Ratatouille.” Guessed his mom.

“Yup, there’s some left for tomorrow.”

“What did you serve it with?”

“Boiled potatoes and chicken. I added a lot of chilly, and dad had to take a second beer.” Smiled Dash.

His mother pinched his ear lightly. “Making mischief, are you? Watch out, or Santa will put you on his naughty list.”

Dash's stomach tightened uncomfortably. “You know me, mom.” He smiled up at her, seeing nothing but love in those tired eyes.

“That I do.” She sighed, and pain flashed in her eyes. “How about we watch a movie?”

Getting up to do as his mom wished, Dash opened the cabinet under the TV where all his mom’s favorite movies were. “Which one should we watch?”

“How about your beloved one. Isn’t this the perfect season for it?”

Ducking his head, Dash pulled out the movie. If anyone ever found out that he loved comical romance movies, his reputation would be ruined. Putting the DVD in the player, Dash returned to his mom’s side.

 _The holiday_ started playing, and Dash relaxed, his mom turning a lock of his hair around her finger


	5. Silent Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Star chapter

Humming to Rudolph, the red nose reindeer, Star wrapped a towel around her wet hair and sat down in front of her computer. Switching from Youtube, where she’d been playing Christmas hits, Star opened her Instagram. The likes and shares were still flowing in. Curiously enough, a lot of people were asking what sort of filter she’d used.

Like it wasn’t obvious that the Fenton brat was covered in paint and fleece from the arts and crafts storage at the school. Then again, why did Fenton’s eyes look green? Had Paulina gotten color on her phone? Resulting in odd-colored eyes.

A knock at the door had Star switch over to a secure internet page.

“Come in.” She called.

The door opened to reveal her mom, dressed in her folk dress. “Haven’t you put on the dress yet? Your dad is outside warming up the car. We are going to be late if you don’t hurry.”

“I just got out of the shower. See half-dressed.” She indicated the thermal underwear.

“Come on then, I’ll help you put this on.” Sighed her mom picking up the petty coat.

Turning off her computer screen, Star submitted herself to being dressed like someone from the 17th century. The traditional dress from her grandmother’s country consisted of many layers and a silly headdress. Resulting in that no one that knew her would recognize Star. Which was good because she hated to have her friends see her dance.

Once dressed, any kind of jacket would have been too much. The thick and tight-fitting layers had star sweat. Adding a shawl was all she needed to go out in the cold. Her dad and brother were also wearing the folk dress, only looking slightly less silly than she felt. At least they, too, had to wear a dumb headdress.

During the car ride, they had the radio turned down and joined in their favorite time killer. Singin. One would start off a song, and after someone got tired of singing that one, they had to start another. Her little brother frequently had pop culture songs and wouldn’t get to pick the song often.

They were all singing Here Comes Santa Clause, by the time they arrived at the community center. Outside there was a cluster of cars. Inside there were more people than could be legal for such a tiny space. No one cared, however. The annual Folk Dance was an event that drew a large crowd, many wearing their own traditional clothes. A band was playing upon the stage, the dancefloor was filled with people who hadn’t been able to wait. Tables were set with refreshments, brought by the members and baked by the scouts.

Star’s brother ran up to his friends at once and wasn’t seen for a while.

Competitions were going on through the evening. Star joined in one or two of the group dances but mainly kept back. She only danced because it had made her parents happy when she was a child, now she thought it silly. Twirling and clapping, letting a boy lead her.

“Looks like we’ll have to stay here until they clear the roads.” Said an old man walking past Star.

“That’s not so bad. Remember the snowstorm of eighty-nine. This is much better, warmth, food, and the best of company.” Smiled the elderly lady on the man's arm.

Star had to agree with the old couple. There were much worse places to be stuck during a blizzard. Fingers crossed, no haunted Christmas trees would attack them.

A girl Star’s age, with normal clothes, joined her. She didn’t look like she went to Casper High, and if she did, she must be unpopular. Sill, Star couldn’t help but notice the girl's sharp cheek or the upturned nose. She was sort of cute.

“So, what’s a wallflower like you doing at a party like this.” Asked the girl, and there was something familiar about her.

“If that meant to be a pick-up-line? If so, it was really corny.” Huffed Star, trying to ignore the girl.

“It was meant as an ice breaker. But I guess I’ll have more luck with the wall instead of the flower.” Mused the girl.

“You trying to be clever now?” Drawled Star, wondering why the girl was still talking to her after she’d made a mean comment. Often people would leave her alone after she insulted their intelligence.

“You trying to be a bitch?” Threw the girl back.

Star turned to give her a piece of her mind but was stopped by her gaze. Twinkling blue eyes, filled with laughter, stared back at her. The girl was making fun of her. Well, she wasn’t going to let that ratel her. Being friends with Paulina had given Star lots of practice in ignoring people.

Turning her back on the girl, Star watched the dancers. It was a short melody, with lots of violins and a bass. She liked it and tapped her foot to the rhythm of the dancer’s clapping.

“That looks like fun.” Said the girl beside her. Something in her voice told Star that he wanted to dance.

“Why don’t you join them?” Asked Star, a bit harder than she’d meant to.

“I don’t know how.” Pouted the girl.

Star didn’t answer her, in the hopes that she would leave. Tapping her foot in time with the music, Star smiled at her parents, turning around in a whirl. Humming to the tone, Star thought the girl would have moved on to bother someone else, but she was still there when she turned around.

“Don’t you have anywhere else to be?” Asked Star.

“I don’t. Do you?” The retort wasn’t unkind but sad, her eyes were low, and she looked dreamily at the festivity. It was then that Star noticed the girl’s clothes. They were worn and dirty, patched, and a bit too small for her.

“Where’s your family? Can’t they teach you the dances?”

A dark shadow played over the girl’s face. “They don’t know how to dance either. That’s why I asked you. I saw you dancing and thought, seeing as you are the best, would you maybe show me?” She smiled, but there was nothing happy in the blue eyes.

“I’m not the best.” Said Star, her cheeks growing warm. “Here, take my hand.”

Stepping away from the wall, Star offered her hand to the girl. She took it, and the shadow was all but gone from her face in that instance.

“What’s your name?” asked Star.

“Danielle. Dani, for short.” Smiled the girl.

“Well, Dani. You start with a step to the right.” They both took a step to their right resulting in them straining their connection. Star laughed. “No, to my right. I’m leading. You just follow.”

Danielle chuckled, an infectious sound that soon had Star smiling and enjoying herself more than she used to.

The girl was easy to teach, so easy even that Star would have thought she’d lied about not knowing the steps. However, when she tripped over her own feet, pulling Star down with her, she knew the girl hadn’t.

“You have two left feet.” Grinned Star, getting up and pulling Danielle with her.

“I always thought it was two right feet.” Smiled the girl. “Can we try that twirl? It looks like fun.”

They did. Going on to the dance floor and joining the others. Star found herself once more enjoying the dance. That was until the lights all went out.

Danielle’s hands tightened on Star’s. She could hear confused voices and people exclaiming in surprise as they knocked into one and another.

“What’s going on?” asked Star, trying to see what was happening around her.

“I don’t know.” Answered Danielle, drawing closer to her.

“A fuse must have blown.” Said someone in the darkness.

“I’ll go and check it.” Called someone else.

Names were being called by people looking for each other. Lights flickered on from phones, screens lighting up faces. Digging in her own pockets for her phone, Star was bathed in green light.

Raising her eyes to Danielle, Star saw her holding a glowing green ball in her hand. “Is that some kind of glow-stick?” She asked, getting her hands on her phone.

“Something like it.” Smiled the girl. Her eyes were sharp, however, reflecting the green light as she scanned the room.

There was agitation growing in the previously merry atmosphere. Children were crying, and parents were shouting. Someone bumped into Star and didn’t bother with apologies.

“Why haven’t they got the lights on yet?” asked someone.

“Because it’s not a blown a fuse.” Whispered Danielle, her eyes fixed on one of the dark windows.

That was when Star realized that no lights were shining in from the outside. The parking lot had been bathed by streetlamps and the twinkling of Christmas decorations. Every window should have been shining brightly in the dark. But there was nothing but the howling wind rattling the windows.

“Did the storm blow out the power grid?” Wondered Star. Opening her phone, she found that she still had a few bars.

“Check the internet.” Said Danielle.

Within fifteen minutes, everyone had come to the same conclusion as Star and Danielle. There was no power in the whole town. The emergency channels informing everyone of the blackout and advising them to stay at home.

Mr. Marley, the head of the folk dance committee, attempted to calm everyone down. Telling them that things were going to be alright and that they were all safe in the community hall. Unfortunately, the wind chose that time to blow a tree branch through a nearby window.

Amidst the panic and fear, Star found her little brother and parents, with the help from Danielle’s light.

“I want to go home, mom! Let’s go home.” Whined her little brother.

“It’s impossible. The roads are closed apart from the emergency routes.” Said her dad.

The green light left them as Danielle went over to help the people struggling to cover the broken window. Star stared at her as the girl told a complainer to stop wasting time and pick up the foldable table they’d decided to use.

Star’s brother began crying. He wasn’t the only one. Many children were now whining and weeping. Star understood them. Hadn’t she known better, she too would have demanded of her parents to take them home. When the old couple had spoken of the roads being closed earlier, it hadn’t seemed to bother them.

Danielle’s green light moved from the window to a cluster of weeping children who couldn’t find their parents. The girl didn’t hesitate but raised her voice calling for the children’s parents. She didn’t move from them, didn’t return to Star. Unlike the men who’d covered the window, she kept helping the people around her.

Something warm seemed to grow inside Star at the sight of her. It was almost squashed by another thought. This wasn’t a Christmas movie, nor one of those feel-good stories. This was realty. And yet, one after another, the parents found their missing children thanks to Danielle’s beacon.

Once Danielle had helped the children find their parents, she returned to Star. Stopping in front of Star’s sobbing little brother Danielle held out the light to him. “It’s bright? Isn’t it?”

The boy nodded and then reached for it. “It’s warm.” He said, taking the ball of light from Danielle.

“Would you keep it safe for me?”

“Don’t you need it?”

Smiling the Danielle pulled out a second glowing orb from within her hoodie. “I have a spare one. But the one you are holding is my favorite.”

Star’s little brother nodded and held the glowing light gently in his hands as if he had a fragile baby bird.

Turning to Star, Danielle smiled at her. “It’s going to be alright.” She said.

“How did you do that?” asked Star. Her parents were too busy trying to figure out what to do to pay any attention to Star or her brother.

“Do what?” asked Danielle, her eyes moving around the room.

“You found the children’s parents. You didn’t have to do that.”

“But I wanted to. I wanted them to feel seen and heard. I wanted them to know that there was no need to be afraid. Because I’m not afraid.” There was sincerity in the girl's blue eyes. Shining as bright as an honest childe’s.

“How can you not be afraid with all of this around you?” asked Star, forcing the tears in her eyes back.

“I have hope. Like that couple over there who are enjoying a cup of tea in the middle of all this.” Said Danielle, pointing to the elderly couple, who were, in fact, sitting by the stage with the musicians drinking tea.

The sight of the musicians gave Star an idea. She had never done anything like this before. But seeing how dark it was and her ridiculous getup, no one could possibly recognize her.

“Can you come with me?” She asked, heading for the musicians.

Danielle’s light followed her as she walked up to the musicians. She felt the girl's presence at her back as she stopped. “Excuse me, do you know the Silent Night?” She asked.

“We do.” Answered the fiddler.

“Would you play it with me?”

The man eyed her. “What instrument do you play?” he asked.

“I sing.” Stated Star and turned around to look out over the crowd. Holding her shaking hands over her stomach, she took a deep breath.

“ _Silent night- Holly night-._ ” The musicians started playing gently so as not to drown out her voice.

Her singing had an almost instant effect. People's heads turned her way, lights from their phones shining like stars in the darkness.

“ _All is calm- All is bright- Round you virgin Mother and Child_ -” Beside her, Danielle joined in, her voice a bit rougher and not nearly as strong as Star’s.

As soon as one person joined in, the rest soon followed. By the end of the song, the whole room was singing. Star lead them through one Christmas carol after another, making sure to avoid the ones who sounded dark and gloomy.

The band soon took over leading the songs, Danielle leaving her light for the crowd to have something to focus on. They returned to Star’s family, who all embraced her, calling her wonderful and brave.

That was when her phone rang. Looking at the screen for who was calling her, Star frowned.

“Hi, Kwan. Why are you calling this late?” She answered.

“Have you seen the news?” Said Kwan.

“If it’s about the storm? I know. I’m stuck with my family at the most boring party you can imagine.” Drawled Star, making sure her parents didn’t hear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't resist inserting different cultures. Mainly I thought of the Swedish folk-dresses and how some of that culture could have been carried on by generations. It's mostly for fun.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paulina Chapter

Checking her reference image, Paulina returned to her mannequin. Folding the fabric, she pinned it up.

“Awtch!” Said the mannequin, her brother.

“I didn’t prick you. Woss” Huffed Paulina, taking a step back to see how her garment had changed.

“Says the Otaku who wants people to think that she’s a Blond.” Drawled Michel tugging at the high midriff of the shirt. “This is too short, you need it to come down here, or it’s going to be indecent.”

“What is it to you if I want people to think I’m Ellie Woods?” Retorted Paulina moving in close to her brother and taking down the seem.

“People don’t think you are Ellie Woods. They think you are shallow because you are trying to be Usagi.” Said Michel.

Rolling her eyes, Paulina turned to her next piece of fabric. “Just because you are going goth doesn’t mean that everyone needs to be exploding whenever something doesn’t go their way.”

“Usagi.” Said Michel, poking one of the balls of Paulina’s hair.

“So what if I like Sailor Moon. You do too.” Huffed Paulina swatting her brother's hand away.

“I introduced it to you when you were eight. I didn’t think you would go stir crazy with all this.” He waved at Paulina’s room. She had decorated it over the years with pastel colors, posters of her favorite anime, collected plushies and pillows that took up all of her bed. She had all her favorite characters' figurines, including a full set of the sailor scouts and the whole Straw hat pirate crew.

“I like cute stuff. Is that so wrong? Your room is black apart from that altar.” Said Paulina, bringing over one of the sleeves.

“You promised not to talk about it. Should I mention your secret stash?” Mused Michel.

“Alright, arm out-, “ Said Paulina almost at the same time as the lights went out.

“DAD! POWER IS OUT!” Shouted the two through the door.

“You wouldn’t have any flashlight?” asked Michel. “I left my phone in my room.”

“I got plenty of light.” Smiled Paulina, placing the sleeve in her brother's hand, she walked over to the bed and threw herself on it. The pillows light up from the inside. Paulina hugged her Carebear.

“Now I want a camera. This could be your new profile picture.”

Paulina stuck out her tongue at her brother and filled her arms with glowing pillows. She dropped a few on the floor and handed the bear to Michel. “I’ll get you out of the shirt. Can’t really do anything more tonight anyway.”

“Thank you.” Smiled Michel, and like always, stood very still.

Once out of the work in progress, Michel kidnapped the bear for a few minutes, returning to Paulina’s room with his phone and a hoodie. “I’ll go see what’s taking Dad so long.” He smiled, throwing the bear to her.

“Don’t hurt him!” Yelped Paulina, catching her bear and dropping the garment she was making.

“It’s a teddy bear.” Deadpanned her brother.

“It is a carebear.” Huffed Paulina, patting the purple fluff on its head.

Michel rolled his eyes and left her alone. Which Paulina thought was good. She always hated it when her brother tried to make her open up to other people. Yes, she loved Anime, and Cartoons, cute things, fluffy and pastel. But that didn’t mean she wanted her reputation ruined. Association with the nerd culture would brand her a loser for the rest of her life. Nothing could be worse than that.

Giving her bear a hug, she threw it on the bed. Gathering up all the glowing pillows and tossing them on the bed, she flopped down on it once more. It was like laying on a luminous cloud, the stars on her ceiling, making it easy for her to fantasize that she was floating around the sky on a stary night.

The glow of the pillows soon died down, and she was left in darkness. Taking out her phone, Paulina squinted at the screen. She had a background image of Phantom that always made her smile. He was winking at her.

Trying to open her social media, Paulina found that she had to enter her username and password. However, once she’d done that, she still didn’t have access to any of her accounts. Trying the version she used for her hobbies, she gained access to everything.

Using her second account to search for her normal one yielded nothing but a black screen with an error message.

A knot tightened in her stomach. Had her account been hacked? Had someone stolen her internet profile? What were they going to do? Make stupid comments that caused all her 1678 followers to abandon her.

It must be the Foley brat. She thought. He was always good with computers and had been forced to hand in his phone on more than one occasion during tests. It was no secret that if you wanted to know your grades or what the teachers were going to test you on, it was Foley you talked to.

Logging out of her second account, Paulina requested a new password to her normal account. However, opening her email showed that she had received one official message from the admin, but two.

Opening the first one, Paulina blinked.

“Dear, Sayonara Sanchez.

Due to miss use of our site, your account has been frozen. As stipulated in our terms of service, Ch 2 § 9. We do not condone any type of cyberbullying. If anything of such nature should occur on your account, it will be temporarily frozen.

You can appeal the verdict at our service center at. MySocialBook.kom”

That couldn’t be right. What had she done that qualified as Cyberbullying? She’d never said anything that wasn’t untrue about anyone. This was definitely that Foley’s fault.

Getting up from her bed, no longer feeling like a dreamer. Paulina wrapped herself in a kimono and walked downstairs. “Dad, how’s it going with the power?” She called ahead, seeing the light in the kitchen.

“It’s not only our house.” Said Michel bringing out a candelabra to light up the hall table.

“You can’t be serious? Doesn’t everything run on electricity?” She said, watching her dad excite the kitchen with a beer in one hand and a candle in the other.

“Yes, but we got a fireplace. Thought I give it an early start.” Grunted the blocky man.

Rolling her eyes, Paulina grabbed a candle from the candelabra. “That is nice, dad, but if the temperature in the room goes up, what’s to keep it from entering the fridge or freezer?

The two men exchanged a look.

“Mom would have thought of it. Too bad she’s at grans. I hope they are safe.” Said Michel joining Paulina in the kitchen.

“Shouldn’t I light the fire then?” asked their dad even as he was piling logs in the fireplace.

“Light it. Burn that Yule-Log throughout the night less the darkness takes us.” Shouted Michel.

“Drama much.” Smiled Paulina. Getting a pair of empty wine bottles, she poured water in them and stuck the candle down the mouth.

“Eye Eye, my captain.” Said Michel making a poor impersonation of a pirate.

“Fetch the tray. We can put most of this outside. The cold will keep it from spoiling. When dad is done lighting the fire, we can use the basket to put the rest in and cover it from any animals.” Sighed Paulina, loading jam bottles to said tray.

“How about the Freezer?”

“What about it. The insulation will keep most of it for a couple of hours. By then, you’ll have found the boxes we stored the Christmas decoration in and placed all of that outside as well.” Said Paulina.

“I noticed that you didn’t say us.”

“I’m a girl. You are a boy. Get the picture?”

“Got the stereotype. How about the man of the house do the heavy lifting?”

“Deal.” Nodded Paulina sending her brother out to the back porch with the jam jars.

By the time everything had been taken out into the cold, their dad had found the old camp radio and tunned it to a local station.

“ _I’m driving home for Christmas-_. Ah, wonderful car music. This one was for all of you out there in the snow right now. Don’t worry, the latest news says that the clearing of the roads is underway. Starting at the main road and working its way out to you. Speaking of news, what’s the latest from local reports, Jerry?”

“The latest is this blackout. I’m sorry to say, folks but due to an explosion at the power plant. There’s one report of injuries in connection to it. Looks like we won’t have any electricity before tomorrow afternoon.”

Michel returned from his last trip outside, bottles of soda in one hand and a plate of cheese and crackers in his other. During the holidays, an old family tradition was to gather around the fire and listening to Christmas stories told by their mother, with a large plate of cheese and smores to nibble on.

“Then how are we on the air? I know for a fact that the light behind me is saying, on-air, in buzzing neon.”

“That waste of energy runs on our generator. Local places such as new and radio stations have them to reach out to the masses in times like these. Hospitals are a specific location that doesn’t let the power go out for long.”

“Indeed, that’s a useful bit of information. Any other nuggets of wisdom you care to pass on?”

“Yes. Do you know the difference between bullying and cyberbullying?”

“One happens on the internet?”

“Right. But it isn’t contained to the web alone. I have here a trending image where the two aren’t separate. It’s an image of a boy who’s been splashed with paint and something fluffy and green. The caption reads Beware of the Grinch.”

“You aren’t serious? Someone posted that on the web?”

“They did. The original post has been taken down, but it’s clear that this image's intent was to humiliate the person. The prank in itself is bad enough, but to then post an image of it and brag on the net about the joke is next level naughty.”

“So these bullies won’t get any-“ Paulina changed the channel, and soft Christmas music filled the room.

“Who wants to listen to boring stuff like that. Should we play a game, maybe? Monopoly, anyone?” She smiled.

“I’ll get the board.” Said Michel a beat later than he normally would have.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have you ever noticed how two dimensional a person gets when they are putting on someone else's personality? I think this fits Paulina and gives her some character depths. If you were wondering, she was making a cosplay.


	7. Little drummer boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kwan chapter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The little match girl (1845) Hans Christian Andersson.

The lights went our and Kwan groaned. “Come on, I was at the best part. Harry was about to off Voldemort.” Marking his place in the book with his finger.

There were screams and shouts from the other room. Kwan leaped to his feet and scurried over to his younger sibling’s room. Stepping on a Lego, he let out a shout of his own.

“Who’s there!” Shouted the oldest of the three kids.

“It’s your big brother, who left the Lego in front of the door?” Responded Kwan, pushing the pieces of evil building blocks out of his way.

“I forgot to pick them up.” Said the middle one.

“Okay. Is everyone alright in here? I heard screams.”

“The light going out scared us.” Said the oldest one.

Taking his phone out of his pocket, Kwan turned on the flashlight. You guys are supposed to be sleeping now. Mom tucked you all in, already.”

The three youngsters looked guilty, then the youngest jumped off his bed and picked up a book. He held it up to Kwan but didn’t meet his eyes.

“Would you read the story for us?”

“Just until we fall asleep.”

“So that we aren’t afraid of the dark.” They all gave him huge puppy eyes.

Covering his eyes with the book, Kwan smiled. “No, that’s cheating. You know I can’t resist the puppy eyes. Get into bed, you lot.”

The children all smiled and ran to the bottom bunk-bed, belonging to the second to youngest. They all snuggled down and then screamed again as Kwan jumped in among them. It took them a while to get comfortable, Kwan in the middle, his siblings using him as a pillow.

“Now then, where were we?” Said Kwan opening the book.

“Most terribly cold it was; it snowed, and was nearly quite dark, and evening-- the last evening of the year. In this cold and darkness there went along the street a poor little girl, bareheaded, and with naked feet. When she left home she had slippers on, it is true; but what was the good of that? They were very large slippers, which her mother had hitherto worn; so large were they; and the poor little thing lost them as she scuffled away across the street, because of two carriages that rolled by dreadfully fast.”

Continuing to read and emphasize the drama of the story, Kwan found himself enjoying the classic tale. The three little ones hung to his every word, eyelids growing heavier as he turned one page after another. The oldest fell asleep first, soon followed by the second. The littlest of the children stubbornly kept his eyes open and glared at the page. Eventually, even he nodded off, snoring loudly.

Closing the book, Kwan untangled himself from the three young ones. Picking up the tiniest, he carried him over to his bed, making sure he wouldn’t accidentally roll out. The other two had plenty of space in the lower bunk, and Kwan simply tucked them in with a blanket.

Leaving the darkroom, Kwan left the door open in case any of them woke again. Checking his phone for any messages from his friends, he found nothing. Opening his social media account, Kwan smiled. There were over a hundred new likes on the prank they’d pulled on Fenton earlier that day.

Sure he thought it was mean and wouldn’t have done it if his friends hadn’t said it would be fun. In the end, it had been fun. Seeing the looser splutter when all the fuss exploded in his face had been hilarious. Dash had been laughing his ass off when they left the school.

About to leave the page, Kwan’s eyes locked on a larger number. Over six hundred dislikes and more were gathering on the site. Kwan was not used to seeing that many people hate on a joke. He turned to the comments to see what was upsetting the watchers.

“If this is a joke, then the bully who came up with it can go to hell!”

“This is wrong.” TallAndBright

“The Grinch is not someone to be wary of.” ChishierGinger

“Way to ruin Christmas.” MecaMicke

“One choice can change the course of someone's life. Is it for the better?” TimeLord.

“I hope you are happy now. You just killed him.” EpicGhost

“If this had been me, I would have killed myself too. You should jump off a cliff for this.”

“# Bully of the year, # Hidden killer, #Go f**k yourself.” WesWest

“Deadman tells no tails. This picture says it all.” SwordArtist

“I can’t believe there are monsters out there who would do this to someone. Shame on you.” ButcherHeart

A knot turned in Kwan’s stomach. Their numbers of followers on Star’s account was dropping like a stone. Trying to find Paulina’s MySocialBoo.kom, Kwan was met by a message that the account had been canceled.

Dialing Dash, to hear if he had seen the same thing, Kwan jumped when his best friend barked in the phone.

“What!”

“Did I disturb you?” He asked cautiously.

“No- well- yes. Sorry, I can’t talk right now. Call you in the morning.” And with that, Dash hung up. He’d sounded upset, even anxious. There had been voices and noises in the background that told Kwan he wasn’t home. Had something happened during the blackout?

Letting out a sigh, Kwan scrolled through his list of contacts. He wanted to talk to someone about the horrible comments on their prank. The people following them had loved it earlier when Star and Paulina posted the photoshopped images.

Pressing Paulina’s number Kwan got no answer and didn’t bother with voicemail. Next, he tried Star.

The blond answered, sounding a bit out of breath, music, and singing in the background. “Kwan? What’s up?”

“Have you seen that post from earlier?” asked Kwan. His stomach was filling with butterflies, and he paced the hall.

“No, I’ve been spending quality time with the family. Has something happened to it?” Asked the girl, making it sound like she wanted to be somewhere else than with her family.

“You have to see it for yourself. I don’t know what happened. I just saw it.” Said Kwan.

There was a rustle and louder music as Star removed the phone from her ear. A minute later, she was back.

“I’ll call you later.” She said, her voice void of all emotions.

Left without anyone to talk to, Kwan was about to go back to his own domain when he heard voices from downstairs. His parents didn’t know about the joke, and it was best if things stayed that way. But maybe they could help him make sense out of the comments. Perhaps they would know why love had turned to hate. He didn’t have to tell them he’d been part of the joke or that he knew who’s account it was posted to.

Curious, there were three voices, and only his parents were supposed to be downstairs, Kwan descended the steps. The cramped hall was dark, but soft flickering light came from the living room. Entering the minimalistic room, Kwan saw that the light was coming of flickering candles on the coffee table. Around it was three adults. His mom, dad, and their neighbor, Principal Ishiyama

The three looked up at him, and Kwan had the uncanny feeling they knew what he’d done. Especially Principal Ishiyama’s piercing stare told him that she knew what was going on on the internet.

“Come, sit down, Kwan.” Said his dad, indicating the empty armchair between him and the principal.

Fearing what they might do, Kwan non the less sat down in the indicated seat. His parents wouldn’t like it if he disobeyed them.

“Can I get you some tea, Principal Ishiyama?” he asked politely, noticing that there were already cups on the table but that no one had finished them.

“Thank you, but no. I’m not here as your neighbor tonight. I have something serious to talk to you about.” The principal nodded to an iPad on the coffee table. “I know you had something to do with this.” She said, opening the display to show Kwan the image of the paint-splattered Fenton.

“How?” he asked, hoping that he wasn’t giving himself away by asking that question.

“You, Miss Sanchez, Mr. Baxter, and Miss Andersson, all left the gathering in the cafeteria earlier than everyone else today. And I think you know why.” Said the Principal.

“Did you have something to do with this?” asked Kwan’s dad.

Biting his lips, Kwan lowered his head.

“No. Honey, don’t lower your head. Face this head-on.” Said his mom, her voice soft and encouraging. She always believed in him. He hated to disappoint her.

“We did.” He said that horrible feeling in his stomach making him sick.

Clockwork reached into Kwan’s body and pulled Danny out of him. Gasping and feeling like he’d been thrown from one roller coaster to another, Danny backpaddled away from the master of time. “Stop, please.” He said, eyes wide and burning.

“Time out.” Said Clockwork, pressing the stopper on his staff.

Everything around them stopped. Kwan’s determined eyes meeting the principals, the parents reaching out to take the other's hand, the youngest child standing at the bottom step peeking in. Even the flickering flames stopped, making it all look like some kind of art installation.

“Not what I meant.” Breathed Danny, bending over and placing his head between his knees. The world was spinning from all the experiences. From Dash and his mother. Continuing to Star and Danielle, Paulina, and her family. To Kwan and the horrible feeling, which had been tearing him up inside.

“I know what you meant.” Replied Clockwork, his form taking that of a child.

Glaring at the master of time, Danny got to his feet. “What was the deal, forcing me to go through all of that?”

Sighing, the ghost pulled a smartphone out from within his robes. “Satellite will become Sunshine, King will lose his crown, Honesty wins all.” Said Clockwork posting the message under the title TimeLord,

“You are the guy who keeps saying those weird stuff on the message boards!” Exclaimed Danny.

“Isn’t it clear? I’m the master of time. Therefore I’m the time lord.” Shrugged Clockwork pocketing the phone again.

“I thought TimeLord was a Doctor Who fan.” Said Danny.

“I like the depiction of time in that show. Even if it’s not as set-in-stone as everyone thinks.” Said Clockwork. “Now, shall we move on?”

“Why?” Asked Danny.

Aging to a grown man, Clockwork tilted his head. “There is more to see.” He replied.

“Okay, I get that. There’s more to all my bullies than meets the eye. But why show me this?” He waved at the iPad and Kwan.

“You wanted to get back at these people. Crash their Christmas and know why they thought it was alright to humiliate you. You wanted to know what they knew of the Christmas spirit. And you wanted to know what motivated them in their actions.” Said Clockwork.

Danny was momentarily reminded of his thoughts back when he was washing the paint off. “I was angry. I didn’t mean that I wanted to walk in their skins.” Danny shivered as everything he’d experienced through his bullies flashed through his mind.

“Is that what you think. Walk a mile in your bullies' shoes, and you know them?” Said the ghost crossing his arms as he became an old man.

Frowning, Danny thought about everything he’d undergone. Not only had he learned that there was more to the four than he’d know, but they also had hobbies like a normal person. They were ashamed of these activities, and judging from what Danny saw every day at school, they acted like jerks because that’s how they thought people would accept them. They might seem like shallow people to someone who didn’t know them, but in Danny’s eyes, they had more dimensions now than he’d thought.

“I know them better know. What else is there for me to understand?” Asked Danny, getting annoyed at Clockwork's incapacity to speak clearly with him.

Sighing, the ghost lifted his staff. “Let's continue. Time in.” He said, hitting the button on top of the staff, and Danny’s stomach made a horrible wrenching as he and the master of the time were pulled from Kwan’s side and into one of his portals.


	8. Carol the bells

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dash chapter

The man in white scrubs stood in front of Dash. The room was illuminated by flashlights and emergency signs. The power had been out for a while now. The hospital had even had its generator going for a time, but it had broken an hour earlier.

The man tilted his head and placed a hand on Dash's shoulder, drawing him out of his thoughts.

“I’m sorry, there was nothing more we could do.” He said, holding Dash's gaze. Behind him lay the covered form of his mom.

His mom.

Eyes burning, Dash felt like the ground under him was opening up to swallow him whole. He could still see her smiling face, hear her beautiful voice, feel the warmth of her body as hey lay beside her, watching a movie. They had just been watching a movie.

She had been alive and speaking with him earlier. She’d told him to call the ambulance when her breathing got labored. And he’d done just that. He had made sure she got help. Yet here he was staring at her dead form under the sheet. He had done everything right, and still, she’d died.

Tearing himself from the pit of Dash's despair, Danny felt like he was being torn to pieces. It was like someone had locked him in a coffin of spikes and buried him under sharp rocks. Leaving Dash's body on his own was worse than if Clockwork had done it, then he would only have been dizzy.

“Quitting so soon? There’s more to see.” Said Clockwork having the face of a mischievous child.

“I don’t want to see it!” Shouted Danny. He felt sick and turned his back on the covered body.

“This is your doing. Will you turn your back on the pain and suffering you’ve caused others. Will you be inevitable?” Said the ghost, his voice changing, causing a chill to go down Danny’s spine. He never wanted to hear that man speak again.

“I’m not becoming him. I don’t want to hurt anyone. I FIGHT TO PROTECT EVERYONE!” The cold spread through Danny as he glared at the master of time.

“Don’t you? Why were you so hellbent on capturing the Gremlin earlier then? It wasn’t to send him back to the ghost zone.” The ghost's face grew old and wrinkled, but the red eyes never wavered from it’s piercing glare.

Danny made a face. Clockwork was right. He hadn’t been after the Gremlin for everyone’s safety and Christmas. No, he’d gone after it to ruin Christmas for his bullies. And from what he’d seen that night, neither of his bullies were going to have a happy holiday. But Dash's mom hadn’t done anything to him. She didn’t deserve to die.

“Who did this happen?” Asked Danny, swallowing past the lump in his throat.

Rather than tell him, Clockwork showed Danny. Brining him thought floors and darken hallways in the hospital, showing him people in the cafeteria who were singing by the Christmas tree, past the waiting room where Tucker and Sam were using their flashlights to spread light. And down into the basement of the old building.

Sparks were flying out of the generator room. The caretakers of the hospital were all keeping away from the danger. An electrician standing by to help them. Both Danny’s parents were there in their full gear, ready to take care of the Gremlin.

The little monster was tearing cables from their sockets, jamming them into broken gear. Peeling the protective rubber of a thick cable, he bit into it, and large sparks flew out of his body.

Slowing time Clockwork pointed at the holiday hating spirit. It took the rabbit's shape with long antlers before growing into a human hybrid in greens and red. Tears were rolling down his cheeks, and even as Danny saw him rip the diesel tank from the generator, he could hear the Gremlin cry out.

“Atnas! Emoh em ekat, esaelp. Uoy era erehw!” The words were forging to Danny.

“What is it saying?” he asked Clockwork as fire erupted around them.

“It’s asking for St Nick to bring him home. His punishment has alienated him from everyone. He can’t help but break things. That is what he has become.” Explained Clockwork.

“Like a child throwing a tantrum to get his parent's attention.” Said Danny, having seen the same behavior from many kids at the store, especially during their holiday shopping.

“Indeed. And will you give him the cookie?” Hummed Clockwork turning into a child and picking up his phone.

“No, let him tier himself out somewhere where he can’t hurt anyone would be best. Like the ghost-zone.” Said Danny reaching for the wailing creature.

“I see, that’s what your sister and parents did to you as a child? Very well, why don’t you try it.” Before Danny could register what Clockwork had said, the ghost smacked him across the head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter, painful one. And hell to wright.  
> Ps. Read the gremlins words from right to left


	9. Chapter 9

Bip- Bip- Bip- Bip-

The noise rang through Danny’s ears in time with his heart-beat. He had the funny notion of being weightless and ghosting around still. But there was that agonizing burn at his side that told him he was not an incorporeal spirit. Simultaneously, the pain seemed to be more of a notion than a prominent feature in his existence.

A shiver went up Danny’s spine, and his cold breath escaped his mouth.

Cracking open an eye, Danny squinted at the white light above him. He could hear dull sounds around him. Turning his stiff head, he saw curtains drawn around his bed and Jazz sitting on a stool beside him.

She had her head lowered, and her hand was grasping Danny’s. Tubes and wires attached Danny to machines, and he realized that the Beeping noise he’d registered was actually his heartbeat. The machine beside the bed reported it, telling everyone that he was still alive.

“No! Please let me be with her!” Shouted a familiar voice from beyond the curtains, and Jazz raised her head. Her eyes were swollen and red.

“Dash?” she said. Leaving Danny’s side, she walked over to the partition and pushed the curtains to the side.

Danny saw Dash being held back by a security guard and a man in scrubs, the same man who would give him the sad news. The unmistakable gasping of a person having trouble breathing came from the other side of the curtains.

Taking a deep breath himself, Danny turned intangible and fell through the bed and floors. He registered an alarm going off as the wires were detached from him. Landing on the cold floor of a changing room, Danny’s whole body protested.

Glancing down at himself, Danny made a face. Bandages and dressings were covering his left shoulder and part of his chest on the same side. His feet were bare, apart from his right foot that was also covered in bandages. Clockworks heavy medallion still hung around his neck. Most likely, it was the reason he wasn’t in that much pain.

Reaching for his ghost powers, Danny let the light wash over him, transforming his human body into that of a ghost. The dull ache almost completely disappeared. His head felt lighter as if he’d been carrying a tone of books on it until now.

Turning invisible, Danny flew along the halls and corridors, past doors and people. Lights flickered as if they weren’t getting enough power. Remembering the path Clockwork had shown him, Danny soon found himself in the hospital’s basement.

The Gremlin was in the generator room, tearing a panel off the wall and grinned excitedly at the switches he found.

“You will kill people if you do that.” Said Danny, landing on the floor and returning to his human form.

The ghost turned to Danny and flicked a switch.

Danny didn’t move.

Flicking another switch, the gremlin watched Danny for any reactions. When he didn’t get any, the ghost stopped and flung itself at the breakers and started throwing them off.

Calmly Danny sat down on the floor and watched the gremlin, counting the seconds from the first switch being thrown.

Letting out its scream, the gremlin grew antlers and shifted into its rabbit form. Launching itself at Danny, he met no resistance. Having expected the attack, Danny turned intangible.

The gremlin passed through him with every attack. Getting up from the floor, Danny concentrated on the increasingly difficult task of staying intangible and at the same time interacting with the world. Stopping the intangibility at his wrist, Danny reversed the switches the gremlin had thrown.

This angered the ghost, who’s scream cut through Danny’s ears and made dust fall from the ceiling. Turning its attention from Danny, the gremlin charged for the generator.

His heart leaping in his chest, Danny slammed his hands down on the floor and made everything in that room intangible. He stared as the gremlin lost it’s footing as he met no resistance, tumbling across the ground and slamming into a concrete wall.

More dust snowed down.

Throwing up the last switches, Danny turned to the angry creature as he got up.

“Don’t hurt more people, please. They are not your enemy.” Said Danny sitting back on the floor. He was shaking from the use of that much intangibility on such a large scale.

“Od uoy fo enon! Mih evresed t’nod uoy!” Screamed the gremlin and something inside of Danny knew what he was saying,

“No, we don’t.” Agreed Danny. “He is too good for us.”

“Egami sih gnitrotsid! Ekoj a! yot laicremmoc a mih edam! Traeh sih nelots ev’uoy! Sruo si eh! Taerg si eh! Doog ton si eh! -”

“You love him.” Interrupted Danny.

The gremlin screamed again and launched himself at Danny. Again missing. Throwing himself over and over again at Danny, the gremlin didn’t lay a single scratch on him.

“Let’s take a walk.” Said Danny, going ghost he put himself in the gremlin’s path. Grabbing the creature, Danny flew them as fast as he could out of the building.

Outdoors the snowstorm had lessened. The brisk air hitting his skin was like a surge of energy to Danny’s system. Throwing the gremlin up in the air before it could start clawing at him again, Danny flew after him.

He never let the creature get its footing and kept thrusting its future and future away from the city. Danny managed to get them all the way to the iced-over Lake Erie. The gremlin skipping across the ice before reaching its footing.

Danny wasn’t scared of it. They were far away from any innocent bystander or building. Meaning that he didn’t have to hold back.

The gremlin grew into its full form, long arm and legs giving it more power and speed as it dashed across the ice. Tears were streaking down its face, and it let out that scream again, shattering ice with its voice.

Taking a deep breath, Danny let out a wail of his own.

The sound hit the gremlin like a physical wall, and it dug in its claws to keep from being blown away. The ghostly-wail slowed down the gremlin, but in a few seconds, it was moving forward again.

 _Well, I wasn’t looking at blowing him away, anyway. Time was all I needed._ Thought Danny as the chill inside of him grew until it had nowhere to go but out.

Aiming the wail at the ice below the gremlin, it burst into the air like a geyser, engulfing the ghost. In a flash, Danny released the ice inside of him, effectively turning the water into a block of ice, the gremlin imprisoned inside it.

The wail usually took a lot out of Danny, slowly reverting him back to his human form. The added exhaustion of releasing that much ice had darkness creeping in at the corners of his vision. As soon as his feet touched the ice, Danny’s knees gave out, unable to support him.

Hitting the frozen lake, face first, Danny breathed a sigh. He’d stopped the gremlin. No one else would get hurt that night. All that was left to do was keep the ghost trapped for the rest of the time.

Squinting at the frozen prison, Danny could make out the gremlin, its eyes glowing red as he glared at him. He closed his eyes, not really bothered by the glare. Too many ghosts stared at him with eyes like those, too many humans, to for that matter.

There were probably going to be people in Amity Park that thought he’d caused the blackout and that he was the monster. Like it wasn’t common knowledge that Phantom had ruined Christmas last year, now he was doing it again.

“You shouldn’t bother so much with what other people think.” Said the master of time.

Cracking open an eye, Danny saw the ghost hovering between him and the gremlin. Reaching into the folds of his cloak, Clockwork pulled out a medallion. Phasing through the ice prison, the spirit placed the medallion around the creature's neck.

The evil red eyes fell close, a soft glow coming off him. Gently Clockwork pulled the gremlin free of the ice, and his form shrank, becoming cute and fluffy, and fast asleep. Pushing the Christmas-hating ghost through one of his portals, Clockwork brushed off his hands, growing into an old man.

“What are you going to do with him?” asked Danny. His limbs were too heavy to lift.

“Same thing I’ve been doing for you.” Replied Clockwork. He tapped Danny lightly with his staff, and the heaviness lifted from his limbs, if not the exhaustion.

“You mean to place him in the heads of those he hates until he learns that what he is doing is wrong.” Drawled Danny sitting up. He shivered and wrapped his arms around his cold body.

Removing the cloak of his back, Clockwork threw it over, Danny.

“Was that all I did?” he asked.

Pushing the cloak off his face to give Clockwork a snarky reply, Danny found him gone. Somehow the master of time had transported Danny away from the lake and back to the hospital. He was sitting on a bed, the cloak still draped over him, warmth emanating from the fabric.

The next bed over held a familiar woman, and Danny’s heart leaped. He had never met her in real life, however from his hour in Dash body, he knew her as well as his best friend.


	10. Driving home for Christmas

Jazz held Danny’s hand as a doctor explained to Danny how lucky he’d been. The burns on his left side and foot were from where the electric current had entered and exited. They did some tests, checking his heart, blood pressure, his breathing, and so on. They never asked for blood or a sample of anything.

The tests' results seemed to shock the doctor as to his understanding, Danny was in peak physical condition. Apart from his understandable exhaustion, they found no reason to keep him at the hospital.

Jazz took care of the paperwork as Danny got dressed. There had been a set of spare clothes in the Fenton RV, which unfortunately was a Christmas sweater and sandals. No one asked where he’d gotten the purple cloak, and Danny didn’t part with it, intending to return it to Clockwork, and it kept him warm.

After they’d given Danny a rundown of what had happened on the internet, Sam and Tucker were dropped off at home.

“There was a reporter at the PowerStation arriving with the emergency vehicles. She managed to get the RV on tape as we left. And when we arrived here, Lance Thunder was reporting on the storm and traffic accidents. It was live as well.” Said Tucker showing Danny the reports.

“People put two and two together. Assumed you’d tried to kill yourself because of the _Grinch_ post. The last few hours, there have been all sorts of talk about cyberbullying and how it’s a real thing, but not contained to the internet alone.” Continued Sam.

“Three and three.” Said Danny, his eyes half-closed.

“What?” Asked the others.

“The put the two news reports and the _Grinch_ post together. Doesn’t that make three?” He thought about his four bullies and knew that only Kwan was reacting in any significant way to the whole thing.

“Figure of speech. Anyway, it has had some damaging results on Paulina’s popularity. People hate them right now.” Grinned Sam showing the comments on Star’s Instagram.

“Have you learned your lesson yet?” Asked the TimeLord.

Still not understanding what sort of lesson he was supposed to have learned, Danny ignored Clockwork's comment and didn’t bother reading the hate everyone else was spewing. He felt somewhat bad for the A-listers. They weren’t horrible people once they let their guard down.

“Do me a favor.” Said Danny looking up at his friends.

“Anything.” Replied Sam.

“As long as I don’t have to eat vegetables.” Grinned Tucker.

“Leave the A-listers alone. I don’t want to be a part of this shitstorm more than I already am.” He meets Sam and Tucker’s surprised stares. They hadn’t expected him to say that.

“But you were hellbent on getting back at them earlier?” Said Tucker, a wrinkle appearing between his brows.

“I was making a really nasty meme about how shallow Paulina is. The only thing she cares about is her appearance.” Said Sam, equally confused as Tucker.

“She’s just putting on a persona. She’s an Otaku. But thinking anything that isn’t mainstream boring, she rather appear shallow and popular than be laughed at for being herself.” Protested Danny. He felt sorry for Paulina, being someone else just to have friends. At least he didn’t have to hide who he was with Sam and Tucker.

“Okay. But you know it was their fault you got injured today.” Muttered Tucker swiping his fingers over his screen, deleting images and posts.

“Physically or emotionally?” Asked Danny. “Cus they didn’t tell me to go after the gremlin. I did that on my own.”

Tucker made a face.

“We are just saying. They should pay for what they did.” Said Sam.

“And they are.” Sighed Danny. “Principal Ishiyama is taking care of things right now. Paulina has lost all her followers. Dash isn’t going to be that hot either. Star’s going to take a hit too, but she wasn’t the instigator. And Kwan will tell the truth for them all.”

His friends stared at him.

“How do you know that?” Asked Sam.

Danny shrugged. “I know my bullies. And TimeLord said so.”

Once Sam and Tucker were dropped off, Danny moved upfront to Jazz. His sister was driving slowly, keeping the four wheels on the road and not off it, like their dad.

“How are you doing?” she asked.

“All things considered. Only tired and in pain.” Replied Danny.

“You want to talk about what happened?”

Danny rolled his eyes. “You were there. You know what happened. You know even more than I do.”

“Do I?” Asked Jazz, taking her eyes off the road to give Danny a knowing raised eyebrow. “You phased out of the hospital bed as soon as you woke up, and we found you making small talk with Mrs. Baxter half an hour later. Wearing that blanket.”

“It’s a cloak.” Corrected Danny.

“Okay, cloak.” She gave him a meaningful look, wanting to know what he’d done.

“You know the gremlin?” Said Danny.

“Yes.”

“It was at the hospital and would have caused Mrs. Baxter’s death if left alone.” He said it with a straight face and watched his sister’s brows knit together as she processed what he’d said.

“How do you know?” She finally asked.

“Clockwork.” Replied Danny. He told her what had happened in the hospital's generator room and later at the lake. “He threw this over me, and when I looked up, I was sitting there, on the bed beside Mrs. Baxter.” Finished Danny.

Jazz nodded. “How did you know the gremlin was in the basement? The lights didn’t start flickering until after you pulled the disappearing act on us.”

“The master of time showed me the future through Dash's eyes.” Said Danny, wrapping his arms tight around himself as he recalled the horrible feeling of losing someone close. He never wanted to experience that again. It had already happened once before when he’d thought the nasty sauce explosion blew up his friends and family.

Jazz frowned at him. Pulling the RV to the side of the road, she killed the engine and turned fully to Danny. She regarded him for a solid minute before speaking. “Tell me about it?”

At this point, Danny raised his eyebrows at her before laughing out loud at her expression. “Nope. Not gonna happen. You are my sister. Not a shrink.”

“Danny.”

“Jazz.” He mimicked her voice, making it sound especially childlike.

“This is bothering you. I can tell.” She huffed, pretending that not to be irritated by Danny’s whine.

“Yes, it is. But I don’t need you to lecture me about it.” He waved a hand at the sky. The snowfall had picked up, and a gust of wind shook the vehicle.

“I want to help you.” Said Jazz. “There isn’t much I can do to help you in a ghost fight. At least let me be someone you can talk to. Let me be your sister.”

Her words squeezed Danny’s chest, and he had to look away from her.

“You are my sister. And I can speak to you. Just- let me process tonight first. It’s not like Clockwork understands the concept of information overload.” All the experiences that night was probably the reason for his slowly building headache.

“You can come to me about anything. You know that, right?” She placed her warm hand on his cold one.

Again, there was that pang in his chest, and Danny reached over to hug his sister. “That’s why I’m not worried.” He sighed, feeling her gently return the embrace.

The hug didn’t last long. Letting go of each other, Jazz whipped her eyes. “Let’s get home.” She said.

“Ugh. I don’t want to. Mom and dad are going to be so annoying because of the hospital visit.” Whined Danny. Shrinking down in his seat, he pulled up the hood of the cloak.

“Don’t worry. The two of them forgot to charge their phones, so no calls went through. And they don’t check their emails or mail, so we are safe there.” Smiled Jazz starting the car once more, pulling slowly out on the road once more.

“Awesome.” Hummed Danny, closing his eyes.

“I’ll make sure they’ll leave you alone tomorrow. You can sleep for as long as you like.” Said Jazz.

“Good thing school is over, or I’d be sleeping in class again.” Yawned Danny.

He was asleep before Jazz parked the RV in front of their home and didn’t notice her carrying him up to his room.


	11. Fairytail of New York

The next day, Danny didn’t wake before the afternoon. Apparently, his parents had just awoken at the same time because they were down in the kitchen, making breakfast. Their inventions spread out on the kitchen table.

Danny grabbed a slice of left-over pizza and retreated to his room. Sitting in bed with his breakfast and laptop, Danny found that his friends had done as he’d asked, leaving the A-listers alone.

He also found that all the classmates' Dash had invited for his Christmas party that evening had responded that they weren’t coming. Thinking about it, Danny understood why their peers were treating Dash as the plague. The problem was that, in Danny’s eyes, Dash was no longer the same bully who’d tormented him for years.

Checking his watch, Danny nodded. He had a few hours before the party. Shoving the pizza in his mouth, he got out of bed and pulled out a desk drawer. He had everything he needed. Hopefully, the A-listers were going to like it.

Danny had showered and put on some nice clothes at seven that evening. Having wrapped the gifts a few minutes earlier, Danny placed them in his backpack. He was about to leave when Jazz knocked on his door.

“You want to watch a movie Danny?” she asked, entering without his permission. “Hey, what’s with the nice clothes?”

Giving her a broad grin, Danny pushed past her. “I’m off to a Christmas party.” He said.

“Alone?” Jazz sounded surprised.

“Of course not. It wouldn’t be a party if it was only me.” He had told Sam and Tucker that he was going. They’d tried to talk him out of it, but he had already made up his mind. In the end, they too were coming, if only to keep Danny out of trouble.

“You want me to drive you?” asked Jazz, trying as always to insert herself in Danny’s life.

“I can get there on my own.” He smiled and went down the stairs. “Thanks for asking.” Danny waved at Jazz and nearly tripped over a box of Christmas decorations.

“I’m telling you, he can’t get around the world with that many gifts in one night.” Said Maddie Fenton, placing a Christmas tree in the corner of the living room.

“But look here, this movie explains Santa’s sack as having a pocket dimension. And he uses dimensional jumping to get around the world in one night.” Said Jack Fenton pointing at the TV where he had a Netflix movie on.

“I’m going out!” Shouted Danny getting his parent's attention for a minute.

“Have fun.” Called his mom.

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” Shouted his dad. And then they were back to the decades-long debate about Santa Clause.

Walking down the street, Danny wondered if the red man really did exist. If the legend about the gremlin Sam had found was true. Then he did live. If it wasn’t true, then there were many reasons for him to be, but maybe not as a human. Most likely, he was a ghost or spirit. Besides, it didn’t matter if St Nick was real or not.

The heavy snowfall last night had been cleared from the street and took up more than half the sidewalk. Danny could see children’s snowmen and the aftermath of multiple snowball fights as he walked. There were even epic builds that depicted buildings and people, the most eye-catching being a larger-than-life sculpture of Phantom.

Ducking behind the statue, Danny turned into his ghost form and snapped a picture of him with the carving. Tucker had a social media account for Phantom, where they would place photos of him or go out with warnings to the public when a vicious ghost was haunting them. In Sam’s and Jazz's opinion, the account made him more relatable than any ghosts. He had even been surprised at how many followers he alter ego had.

Returning to his human form, Danny stared at the image. His popularity was growing with every photo he posted and every comment he replied to. The A-listers had posted one picture and clapped each other on the back for a joke well made. And it had destroyed them.

It was honestly a bit scary how one image at the wrong time could ruin a person's reputation. Danny could probably help to mend it a bit. But why should he? The bullies had gotten themselves into the situation, and he had no intention of helping them out.

Tucker meets Danny down the street from his house. They posted the image and talked before meeting up with Sam. Going one lane over, they found themselves outside the Baxter house. It was glowing with light decorations on the house and the fence around it.

Glancing through the window, the three friends could see four people and no one else. It was well past the time Dash had said that the party would start, and knowing from experience, the house should have been packed. Instead, there was only Dash, Paulina, Star, and Kwan.

“You really want to do this?” asked Sam, disbelief in her voice.

“You don’t have to come.” Shrugged Danny.

“Why are we even here. I don’t get it. After what they did to you.” Grumbled Tucker.

“They did more damage to themselves than me. I’m not going to gloat about it. I’m just going to allow them to be themselves.” Said Danny. Before his friends could stop him, he’d gone up to the front door and knocked.

It took Dash only a minute to open the door. When he did, he scowled. “What are you doing here?” he sneered.

“You invited the whole class to the party. Or did you forget?” Replied Danny, meeting Dash's eyes.

“I know I did. But you weren’t supposed to come.” Scoffed Dash.

“I know I wasn’t, but your mom told me about those amazing cupcakes you were making yesterday, and I just had to come and taste them for myself. I think she said that they were to die for.” Leered Danny, Sam, and Tucker standing behind him.

“Whatever comes in.” Grumbled Dash stepping to the side to let them in.

The house was eerily familiar with the Christmas decorations and glowing candles. Leaving their jackets by the door, Danny and his friends walked into the living room where the rest of the A-listers were sitting. There were beer and snacks on the table. The famous cupcakes having a place of honor on a large plate at the center.

“What are the losers doing here.” Drawled Paulina.

“That’s coming from the right mouth.” Huffed Sam.

Danny rolled his eyes and opened his bag. Taking out the four gifts, he handed them out to the bullies. “Merry Christmas.” He sneered and swiped a cupcake from the tray. They really were delicious.

“What’s this, some salt to rub in our wounds.” Scoffed Dash, holding the gift with his fingertips.

Paulina hadn’t even touched hers, but Star and Kwan looked down at theirs in surprise.

“Yes, you can say that. After all, my heart grew three sizes yesterday, and I just had to make you something to say thank you.” Grinned Danny sitting down on the floor beside Star. “Also, thanks for being nice to my cousin Star. She really enjoyed the dance.”

The blond girl blinked and stared in horror at Danny. “Your cousin?” she asked.

Sam and Tucker each grabbed a cupcake and sat down between Danny and Kwan.

“Danielle Fenton. You taught her how to dance.” Clarified Danny.

“That was your cousin? She was nothing like you!” Exclaimed Star.

This caused Sam to laugh. “She’s every bit like Danny. Apart from being a girl and two years younger.”

“True. Anyhow you should open your gifts. I didn’t spend half the day making them just for you all to throw them away.” He glared at Dash and Paulina.

Kwan was the first one to tear the wrapping of his, revealing a long metal object. It was flat like thick paper with a plated design ending in a tree, a knotted cord attached to the top. Inscribed on it was a quote Danny had found on the internet. “One glance at a book and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for 1,00 years. To read is to voyage through time. -Carl Sagan”

“It’s a bookmark.” Clarified Danny.

“What is it made off?” asked Kwan.

“A fork.” Said Sam. She showed everyone the bracelet Danny had made her for her birthday. It was decorated with lots of flowers and closed with a clasp at the back.

Star opened her gift to find a music note pendant on a chain. Danny had etched two words on that as well. “Silent Night.” Below was a green bead set in the metal.

“This is beautiful.” She said and quickly put it on. “How do you make them. Is it hard?”

“It’s simple, really. Heat up the metal to make it pliable, then simply bend the fork into shape.” Said Danny, conveniently leaving out that he could heat the metal with his ghost powers and work it with bare hands and not get burned.

They all turned to Dash and Paulina. The two hadn’t said much. However, Paulina was staring transfixed on the two opened gifts.

“It’s probably a tacky heart pendant or something. Honestly, Fenton, can’t you come up with a better stereotype than that.” Sneered Paulina opening her gift with her nails.

 _Coming from the right person._ Thought Danny watching Paulina extract her gift.

She pulled out an oval pendant with cherry blossoms around the rim, and two Japanese characters etched on it. Seeing it, Paulina made a face.

“That’s tacky.” She drawled. “What the character? Love?”

“Sunshine.” Said Danny. “That’s the meaning of your name. I translated it to Japanese characters and used the second half of the fork I made Star’s pendant off. You two are best friends, after all.”

There was silence for a minute before they heard tearing paper. Dash had opened his gift and stared at it, looking a bit disappointed. That was until he saw the inscription on the inside. His eyes widened, and he quickly scolded his face back to neutral before putting the metal link around his wrist. It was simple, with nothing but the bend keeping it close.

“How about we play a game.” Said Sam pulling an ouija board from her bag.

“Of course, the goth would bring something to talk to spirits. You honestly don’t believe in that sort of thing?” Huffed Paulina hanging the neckless around her slender neck.

“What if we get Phantom on the line?” Smiled Sam.

As if that had been the magic word, the A-listers were suddenly on board. Danny wasn’t sure if the board was a game, a tool, or just a hoax. He answered every question Dash and Paulina aimed at Phantom. He had a lot of fun when Paulin asked Phantom to marry him.

“No, I’m Gay.” Was his response. It brought a lot of laughs until Dash asked the same question.

Danny had to think on his feet and quickly replied. “Are You Gay?” Was Phantoms.

Too witch Dash replied. “It’s not gay if he’s a ghost.”

Danny managed to hide his awkwardness, and thankfully the subject was dropped when Sam asked if the snow would last throughout December. Danny could feel the cold in his chest, and when he saw his breath, Clockwork's face was oddly reflective in it.

The answer was, “No.”

Slowly the game bubbled out, and they eventually turned to cards. By that time, they were also out of nonalcoholic beverages, and as the A-listers didn’t see that as a problem, Danny had to get them refreshments. Sam packing up her board and Tucker trying to explain the card game.

“They are out back.” Said Dash.

“Not frozen, I hope.” Shot Danny back.

The cans weren’t frozen. They’d been shoved in a pile of snow and were pleasantly cod to the touch. Danny held one to his side and sighed. The burns didn’t hurt as much as they had that night, but the warmer he got, the more they seemed to bother him.

Behind Danny, the door opened and closed. Turning slowly around, he came face to face with Dash. They were alone for the first time in maybe a year. Immediately Danny started looking for an exit or some adult who could stop the bully before raising his fist.

“How did you know about this?” Asked Dash holding up the bracelet.

Inside, Danny had written “Strong, Gentle, Caring, and an amazing cook, a person his mother can be proud of.”

“Like I said, I talked with your mom yesterday. I thought you could do with a reminder of who she thinks you are the next time you are about to hit me.” Said Danny picking his arms full of bottles.

“Why don’t you hate us for what we did. You tried to kill yourself?” Said Dash sounding like he regrated what he’d done.

Danny laughed, more to defuse the seriousness than finding humor in what Dash said. “I wouldn’t kill myself over something like that. I tried to catch the ghost who was messing with the power in Amity Park. It was my own fault that I was too close to the generator. Don’t think the whole world revolves around you.”

“So what you did nothing to stop the reporters from blaming us, or correcting them in their assumption?” Scoffed Dash returning the bracelet to his wrist.

“What comes around goes around. Besides, I didn’t know what was happening until it was too late. Give me a hand with these?” He started handing Dash cans.

“You know. I always thought you were a loser who couldn’t do anything. But you sound a lot like your sister right now.” Said Dash.

“Ugh, I can’t wait until she moves out. One more year of her analyzing my personality flaws, and I will jump in a river.” Sighed Danny.

“I could kick you in if you want.” Leered Dash.

“You’ll get blamed for murder then.”

“Not if no one sees me, and you leave a note. I think I can fake your handwriting.”

“Careful, I might come back to haunt you.” Grinned Danny.

“Fair. Be like a Christmas carol then.”

Danny shook his head. “Naa, you have too much Christmas spirit. It wouldn’t surprise me if one of the ghosts did try and change my life.”

“Didn’t you say your parent's inventions would take care of them, if not your parents themselves?” Smiled Dash.

“That’s if I’m home.” Said Danny. He had a feeling Clockwork had pulled a version of the ghost of Christmas present and a bit future.

They both returned to the warmth inside and settled on the floor with the others picking up their cards. And for a while, they all had fun.

Walking home with Sam and Tucker that night, they all felt good. Dash had loosened up a bit and actually claimed to be the master behind the delicious cupcakes. After a bit of prying, they even got a song out of Star. Her best friend's performance surprised Paulina, who at once started talking about using Star’s talent in their cheerleading routine.

“You think they are going to stay nice?” asked Sam.

“Who knows?” Shrugged Danny.

“If they don’t, we can just remind them of tonight. I got some nice pictures that I can blackmail them with.” Grinned Tucker.

They parted ways at their streets, and Danny found himself walking home alone. His parents were still awake when Danny got inside. An ominous glow coming from the kitchen. Being the only normal person in the house, Jazz had already gone to sleep.

Getting to his room, Danny tossed his backpack in a corner and fell flat on top of the bed. He was tired, even after having slept for most of the day. It didn’t help that his body had begun to ache as well.

 _Wonder if Dash and his friends are hurting as bad as I?_ Thought Danny, a shiver going up his spine. Cold air tickled the back of his throat, causing him to cough.

“Why wouldn’t they?” Asked a voice beside Danny.

A surge of fear flickered through Danny, shocking him out of his stupor. Flying out of his bed, Danny had a ghost-ray charged and ready by the time he turned round to see the ghost.

Having retrieved his cloak from the foot of Danny’s bed, Clockwork tilted his head at him.

“Are you going to fire that?” he asked bemused.

Breathing out and calming his nerves, Danny landed softly on the floor, dissipating the gathered energy. He was shaking, having been taken by surprise, something he hated.

“What are you doing here? My parents would be overjoyed with the chance to hunt a ghost tonight.” Sighed Danny.

“That they would.” Agreed Clockwork.

Danny waited for the ghost to answer his second question. It was annoying how Clockwork would only reply to one query and ignore the other. However, seeing the growing smile on the ghost's face told Danny that he was messing with him.

“Seriously, why are you here?” asked Danny, sitting down on his computer chair, taking the pressure off his foot.

“To hear if you’ve found the answer to my previous inquiry.” He replied, turning into a child.

“The one you posted on the internet or the last one you asked?” Said Danny.

Clockwork smiled and took out his phone.

Recalling the question posted to the net, Danny tried to come up with an answer. The problem was that he had no clue what lesson he’d been supposed to learn. “Care to enlighten me as to what you tried to teach me yesterday?”

Humming Clockwork turned his red eyes on Danny. “Isn’t that the question?”

Danny let out a frustrated noise. “How am I supposed to know. Heck, you are even worse than Jazz at giving a straight answer!”

“Maybe you aren’t asking the right questions. What did you learn yesterday?” Asked Clockwork, pocketing his phone and aging into an old man.

Closing his eyes and taking a calming breath, Danny tried to think of what he’d learned. He pressed his fingers to the spot between his eyebrows where a headache was growing.

“I got to know Dash and his friends. You showed me a future, but I could change it.” A light went on in Danny’s head. “I could change the outcome of what you showed me. Time isn’t set in stone.” He said pieces of a puzzle falling into place.

“Yesterday’s the past, tomorrow’s the future, but today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present.” Quoted Clockwork.

“You are saying that I can’t change the past, but I can change the future right here in the present?” Asked Danny. “How? I can’t see what will happen?”

“What can you see then?”

Danny groaned. All the brainwork was causing the headache to grow worse. “I can’t see shit. But what I know from the past influences what I do in the present. Like if I hadn’t experienced what Dash and the others were going through, I wouldn’t have come to the party. I would have let Tucker throw out their secrets on the internet. Capturing the gremlin would have led me to release it on them to ruin their holiday.” There was more he wanted to say but couldn’t find the words to explain it.

“Why did you stop fighting the gremlin?” Asked Clockwork returning to his middle-aged appearance.

At the time, Danny hadn’t had a reason to stop fighting the ghost. However, thinking back, he remembered comparing the gremlin to an angry child. He’d said that he’d throw the ghost back into the ghost-zone, getting it out of his way. But when push came to shove, he couldn’t ´do it. After all, the ghost was just raging at the world, just like him.

Neither loved the holiday spirit for different reasons. And they both vented their feelings by breaking Christmas decorations. People who talked to Danny about the holiday often got the sharp end of his tongue. It angered him to no end that they wouldn’t give back as good as they got, and he would continue to pressure them until something gave. The gremlin had done the same.

“I should watch my temper.” Sighed Danny, rubbing at his eyes. Hadn’t he provoked everyone in the class the other day by declaring that he hated the season and wished not to hear a single Happy Holidays’? And what had Dash done? Wished him a _Merry Christmas._

There was no response from Clockwork, and Danny opened his eyes. The ghost was gone, leaving no trace that he’d ever been there.

“What no time for small-talk?” Said Danny to the empty room. “I have better ways to kill my time, you know.” He continued, throwing his jacket to a corner. “Time’s wasted on you. I hope you have some spare when it comes to our next meeting.”

Getting out of his clothes and into his pajamas, Danny crawled in under his blanket. “You have way too much time on your hands.” Grumbled Danny.

He thought he heard a “Happy holidays.” Echo in the silent room, but the next minute he’d clocked out, well and truly asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a best-case scenario. I had written another ending where the A-listers didn't change much. But in this ending, it leaves the future unsaid. I don't know what happens when school starts again, so feel free to speculate.


End file.
